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Wei Yung Kee Stone Factory – Tsuen Wan
Created: 1966
Operation: Stone Factory
Address: Ngong Tong Lot, Chuan Lung Village, Tsuen Wan
Photographed by Boris
It is reported that the signboard of the Wei Rongji Stone Factory was inscribed by Ou Jiangong (fine calligraphy, good at all bodies, especially in the Northern Wei Dynasty calligraphy), so he decided to choose a day for a field trip, and planned to visit the old number while taking pictures. Take a minibus to the entrance of Chuanlong Village, walk along the road for about 10 minutes, and you can reach Wei Rong Kee Stone Factory. Observing the calligraphy signboard on the spot, it can be seen that the maintenance state is very good, and the trees on all sides are in full bloom, and the vision is pleasing to the eye. Looking at the signboard of the stone factory a little closely, you can see at the bottom left that "Ou Jiangong was eighty-five years old", and Ou's life expectancy was eighty and five, so this inscription is his work in his later years. In addition, under the five characters of "Wei Rong Kee Stone Factory" is engraved "Undertaking Chinese and Western Tombs", and the business scope is clear at a glance.
Wai Yung Kee Stone Factory was established in 1966 by Mr. Ngai Yung and is currently run by his two sons. The stone factory is divided into office buildings and factories, the former is located in the Angtang area of Chuanlong, and the latter is located in the Xiangshi cemetery on the mountain. The geographical proximity of the two is convenient for daily operation, because the cemetery project is located in Xiangshi for nine out of ten.
In addition to the construction of the quarry, the Wei brothers take turns to take care of the engineering business of the stone factory, and the staff have to rely on the two of them to arrange lunch for them, they go to Tsuen Wan Market in the morning to buy groceries, and before noon they drive the ingredients to the factory, which has a simple stove for cooking. The quarry is also responsible for the transportation of employees, and the special bus goes directly to the Xiangshi factory in the early morning and picks up the people back to the city in the evening.
The Xiangshi Cemetery is managed by the Tsuen Wan Rural Committee, which stipulates that the cemetery "is only for the burial of the deceased indigenous residents of the Tsuen Wan Rural Committee, pre-war residents of Tsuen Wan District and pre-war fishermen". In fact, cremation is becoming more and more popular in Hong Kong, and there is a lot of demand for niche stone tablets. This type of stele is made of thinner stone, so the chiseling process is still local. At present, the stone factory has a EloWord machine, which is connected to a computer with the corresponding software, and the machine will start the process on the stele as soon as the text to be engraved is entered.
As for the grave stele is much thicker, it is impossible to chisel words using a small machine. The last chisel master of the stone factory also retired twenty years ago, and the process has now been handed over to the factory in Chinese mainland. The tombstone stone has Fujian stone and Shantou stone, but at present, the stone factory mainly uses bluestone, and the stone quality of the cover is relatively fine, and the gold paint on the tablet is not easy to fall off, but the price is relatively high.
The steles in the open space in front of Wei Rongji's door are continuous, uneven and stacked, and the thickness and size are different. In the old days, there were only thick steles, ranging from four to five inches in thickness, but later the popularity of sophisticated cutting machines accompanied the appearance of thin steles, which were about one inch thick. However, there are many thick stele stones on the pavement, and several stone lions are hidden in the stele stone pile, which are placed on both sides of the tombstone when the tomb is built, mainly to protect the yin house and protect the undead, but there are no stone carving craftsmen in Hong Kong at present, so the stone lions are all produced in mainland factories. As for the stone urn, it is also made in China, but the engraving on the body of the cup is still the responsibility of Wei Rongji.
Stone supplies are rarely sold individually, but are mainly used to build tombs. The grave construction project covers the opening of the grave, the burial, and the erection of the monument, among which the excavation of the grave can be subdivided into processes such as hoeing, bricklaying, plastering, etc. In addition to undertaking Chinese and Western graves, Wei Rong Kee Stone Factory will also provide all kinds of maintenance or reconstruction, because the burial cemetery has been exposed to the sun and rain for a long time, and the stele and the cemetery surface will inevitably be damaged. As for the construction and maintenance of the graves, the staff of the stone factory will be stationed in Xiangshi to handle the special handling.
There is not much land left for burials in Hong Kong, and the trend of cremation replacing burial is irreversible, which has a direct impact on all aspects of the funeral industry, such as the continuous decline in demand for luxury shrouds and the reduction in the number of burial grave works. In recent years, both the old shroud and some stone factories have chosen to develop the funeral consultant business in an attempt to increase their income outside their own business. However, it is never easy to promote business change, and the younger generation is willing to devote themselves to the ancestral industry and use new thinking to bring forth the new.