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Sanxiang Metropolis Daily all-media reporter Tian Tian correspondent Wu Xiangliu
The clogs of Xiangtan, the umbrella of Yiyang. The 400-year-old Yiyang Ming oil paper umbrella has been famous for a long time, but it has been handed down to this day, and the complex process of the oil paper umbrella has gradually been replaced by the mass-produced industrial umbrella. As the 12th generation inheritor of the Ming oil paper umbrella, Cao Zhengxin of Yiyang, Hunan Province, feels a great responsibility.
"In addition to inheriting the oil paper umbrella, it is also imperative to find a way to innovate and make the tide of intangible cultural heritage. On April 8, Cao Zhengxin told about his dreams and persistence.
Hear and see, choose one thing for the rest of your life
"My life is a three-point line, a bamboo forest, a studio and a bedroom on the mountain behind the studio. In between speaking, Cao Zhengxin's hand did not stop. Holding the line with both hands, shuttling back and forth between the umbrella bones, the prototype of the oil-paper umbrella was slowly born under his hands. Cao Zhengxin's studio in Yiyang, Hunan Province, is full of tools for making oil-paper umbrellas, and many of the finished products that have just been completed are also placed in it.
(Cao Zhengxin's oil-paper umbrella.) ）
"I started making oil-paper umbrellas at the age of 23, and it has been 38 years now. Cao Zhengxin, who was born in a "family of oil-paper umbrellas" since he was a child, has a special attachment to oil-paper umbrellas. His family was his enlightenment teacher, and he watched his parents make oil-paper umbrellas from the time he learned to speak. At the age of 23, he officially entered the local oil-paper umbrella factory and began to study systematically.
"It's not easy to make a good oil-paper umbrella made by a hand, and it took me several years to become a teacher. Cao Zhengxin introduced that a small paper umbrella not only needs to be carefully selected for materials, but also the production steps are very cumbersome. Ming oil paper umbrella is the traditional famous product of Yiyang in the past dynasties, taken from the local bamboo, pine, mulberry bark all over the mountains, from the production to the molding, it takes more than 70 processes, "each process can not have the slightest sloppiness, the most difficult is to make the tung oil brushed on the umbrella surface." ”
(Cao Zhengxin is instructing students to make oily paper umbrellas.) ）
Tung oil is "clear oil", which is also the origin of the name "clear oil paper umbrella". Tung oil is the key to waterproof and moisture-proof oil paper umbrellas, but boiling tung oil is very abrasive. "The heat and time of boiling tung oil are very important, if it is not properly controlled, tung oil cannot be used. It is precisely because it is not easy to make that in Cao Zhengxin's view, every oil paper umbrella is unique and has a soul.
Dare to innovate and let the tide of intangible cultural heritage rise
After leaving the county umbrella factory, Cao Zhengxin and his wife began to make umbrellas at home. With the popularity of the oil paper umbrella in the tourism market, the number of orders increased, and the couple invited the old artists of the umbrella factory back to make umbrellas together. In 2016, Yiyangming's oil-paper umbrella-making skills were selected into the fourth batch of provincial intangible cultural heritage representative projects, and Cao Zhengxin became the 12th-generation inheritor of "Yiyangming's oil-paper umbrella making skills".
"Compared to China, our oil-paper umbrellas are more popular abroad. Cao Zhengxin introduced that Yiyang oil paper umbrellas have the highest sales in Southeast Asian countries, with hundreds of thousands of orders and tens of thousands. Compared with the hot sales abroad, Cao Zhengxin expects that Yiyang oil paper umbrella can really enter the hearts of every Chinese people. Beginning in 2000, Cao Zhengxin walked into the campus with Yiyang oil-paper umbrellas.
(Cao Zhengxin brought an oil-paper umbrella to the campus to publicize and promote intangible cultural heritage skills.) ）
"Every once in a while, the members of our Arts and Crafts Association get together to communicate. On the basis of inheriting traditional skills, Cao Zhengxin innovated the drawing of the oil paper umbrella, integrating elements such as Hunan embroidery and tie-dyeing.
"It not only drives the promotion of oil-paper umbrellas, but also promotes other intangible cultural heritage skills. Cao Zhengxin knows that only by innovation and inheritance go hand in hand can we break the development dilemma. For this reason, he has passed the age of sixtieth year, and he is still working hard to move forward.