Huasheng Online All-Media Reporter Tian Tian Correspondent Wu Xiangliu
Tang Dynasty fork bone whistle arrow, Ming Dynasty iron whistle arrow, Qing Dynasty purse whistle arrow...... Restoring 100 kinds of arrows in ancient China, Hu Lei, a "post-80s" traditional bow and arrow maker from Shaoyang, Hunan, has his own creative goals, hoping to make the craft of bow and arrow making with a history of tens of thousands of years known to more people.
(Arrows made by Hu Lei.) ）
On April 16, in the studio in Shaoyang County, Hu Lei began to be busy again.
Because of a news report, "three visits to the thatched house" apprenticeship
In the early morning, the sound of rain wakes up everything, and Hu Lei builds a studio at the back of the house, which seems quieter in the sound of rain. With his tools in hand, he quietly sands birch wood, the main material used to make arrow shafts. The production of bows and arrows can be traced back to the Paleolithic Age, and it is not easy to restore arrows from different eras, although the overall shape will not be much different, but the craftsmanship and subtle differences in the production of arrows in each dynasty are very considerate.
"Polishing bows and arrows here is the 'salt' of my life, and if I don't do it one day, it's like drinking a bowl of bland soup. Speaking of the fate with arrows, 37-year-old Hu Lei's thoughts drifted back to his college days. Hu Lei, who majored in advertising and design in Beijing, originally had nothing to do with bows and arrows. But since he was a child, he loved handmade products, and in his sophomore year, he happened to see a news article about the difficulty of inheriting the traditional bow and arrow making skills, which introduced the beauty of traditional bows and arrows and the plight of being lost, which made him particularly concerned.
"I left the report with the address to learn about traditional bow and arrow making. In 2008, Hu Lei, who graduated from university, took a newspaper that he had collected for a long time, followed the address to find the door, and decided to learn from his teacher.
(On April 16, Hu Lei made arrows in his studio.) ）
"Apprenticeship, twists and turns. Hu Lei said with a smile that the first time he came to the door, Master Yang Fuxi, who ran the "Juyuanhao" store, happened to be not in the studio. finally asked Yang Fuxi's home address, but Hu Lei came to the door and missed it again. The third time he came to apprenticeship, Hu Lei brought his own works and started his career in bow and arrow making.
Show the charm of bows and arrows and restore 100 kinds of arrows in ancient China
After four years of study, in 2012, Hu Lei returned to his hometown in Shaoyang with the craft of traditional bow and arrow making and became an independent traditional archer craftsman. Hu Lei found that compared to the north, the humid weather in the south would affect the toughness of the bow. After thinking about it again and again, in 2013, Hu Lei changed from the production of bows and arrows to the production of main attack arrows.
"It is said that the audience of traditional crafts is small, and the traditional bow and arrow making is the most unpopular one of the traditional crafts. At first, Hu Lei faced the problem of no market, in order to break the dilemma, Hu Lei tried to shoot short videos for publicity, polishing the skills of cutting and cutting, and at the same time, started the creation of a series of videos of "Restoring 100 Kinds of Arrows in Ancient China".
"In the process of making arrows, data collection is the most difficult part of the recovery process. Hu Lei said frankly that the production process of ancient Chinese traditional arrows is very exquisite, and the arrows of various dynasties seem to be the same, but they have their own merits, but today many historical records of arrows are incomplete, and it is not easy to reproduce them perfectly. In order to restore the arrows of each period to the greatest extent, he traveled to various museums, speculating and comparing through existing pictures and written records.
"Iron Age arrowheads vary in size, and in the Qing Dynasty, arrows were generally larger. "Counting the differences between arrows in each period, Hu Lei is like a treasure. It is precisely because of this ingenuity that his videos have gained a lot of attention, and more and more young people have learned about the traditional bow and arrow making craft through him.
Participating in traditional bow and arrow activities again and again, Hu Lei brought his arrows into everyone's field of vision. As a result, I have received a lot of orders, some of which are recommended by friends, and some of whom come here, and the annual income can be more than 100,000 yuan.
Now that Hu Lei's check-in challenge has been completed by 80%, he is exploring new shooting spots to let more people experience the charm of traditional bows and arrows.
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