In the Oyster Sinanpu Science and Technology Industrial Park, Xinqiao Street, Bao'an District, in an ordinary factory, the "post-80s" young man Dai Yuanhuan and his ancient brick collection - Qingyuanzhai are performing a different kind of "great Qiankun".
"I'm doing the oldest thing in the youngest city in China. It's been a hard journey, but I feel it's worth it, and I'm convinced that the hardest part is over. He laughs.
Dai Yuanhuan
10 years ago, in 2014, he was in Changsha by an ancient brick "tripped" footsteps; 10 years, he turned the hard work to build up the enterprise, sold the house, collected more than 3500 ancient bricks, became a veritable "brick family"; 10 years later, Bao'an District announced the sixth batch of district-level intangible cultural heritage project representative inheritor list, a total of 21 people in the district were selected, covering traditional music, traditional dance, traditional drama, traditional art, traditional skills, Dai Yuanhuan is one of the six categories of intangible cultural heritage such as folk customs.
Now, he has a bigger dream is taking root in Bao'an Xinqiao Ancient Town: he and his lifelong dream, Shenzhen Bao'an Han Brick Museum, are being intensively designed, arranged, and renovated; two years later, he will become the largest collection of ancient bricks in China with the category of ancient bricks, presenting a very distinctive personalized museum to everyone.
He wants to be the best "brick family" in China
Dai Yuanhuan, originally from Chaoshan, used to run an electronics factory in Bao'an.
In 2014, he went to Changsha for a training session. After studying, Dai Yuanhuan, who likes to collect "old things", went to the local antique market and was deeply attracted by an ancient brick with smart lines, he bought it for 3,300 yuan, and it has been out of control ever since.
This ancient brick that was first associated with Dai Yuanhuan was the fourth era name of Sun Quan of Wu State during the Three Kingdoms period - "Chiwu" era name brick, which is currently the most important position of Dai Yuanhuan in his ancient brick collection - Qingyuanzhai. "You see, how beautiful these ancient bricks are!" Every ancient brick in his eyes is the embodiment of "beauty", his heart has been fused with "bricks", and he himself is also known as an idiot who "regards bricks as life".
"The first time I came across an ancient brick, I fell in love with it from the bottom of my heart and wanted to study and protect it. The status of ancient bricks is too low today, it records a lot of history, has a lot of value, these are the precious wealth left to us by our ancestors. Therefore, I hope that through my efforts, more and more people can understand and value ancient bricks. Dai Yuanhuan told his "original intention" with emotion.
Every ancient brick in Qingyuan Zhai is poured into Dai Yuanhuan's hard work.
However, the collection of ancient bricks is an extremely financially expensive project. In order to collect ancient bricks, the biggest difficulty he encountered was the shortage of funds.
When Dai Yuanhuan was determined to embark on the road of moving bricks, he had already opened an electronics factory in Bao'an, his career was booming, and he also bought a house in Shenzhen. But in order to buy ancient bricks, he even sold his real estate, plus the transfer fee of the electronics factory and various expenses, and spent tens of millions of yuan on the ancient bricks.
As he continued to spend money on bricks, his family had many conflicts and encountered resistance from all sides. The chill of the family, the dislike of the children, the ridicule of relatives and friends...... made him have mixed feelings in his heart, and almost gave up his dream. "It's hard to monetize a collection of ancient bricks. But in the end, I persevered, partly because I didn't want to give up on my dream, and on the other hand, because I had too many friends who gave me a lot of selfless support. ”
He became the bosom friend of the ancient bricks
Behind every ancient brick, there is a history and a story.
Invest 10 million, but if you want to become a "brick family", you must first be "specialized". In order to make up for the shortcomings of history and culture, Dai Yuanhuan devoted himself to the study of ancient bricks, reading a large number of ancient books and documents every day for comparative study, staying in the pile of bricks until late at night, and often forgetting to sleep and eat.
In order to have an in-depth understanding of the ancient brick market, he traveled all over the country to the streets and alleys of cities, countryside fields and even pigsty and cattle pens and other places with ancient bricks, and constantly met brick friends all over the country.
Dai Yuanhuan told the Jingbao reporter that at present, most of China's ancient brick collections are regional, and there are only a handful of real ancient brick collectors in China, and the number, category, and direction of the collection are rarely systematic. However, Qingyuanzhai is located in Shenzhen, just like Shenzhen, the collection is neither based on a certain dynasty nor a certain region, so it is positioned as an ancient brick museum.
Dai Yuanhuan's collection.
Dai Yuanhuan said proudly, "There are basically representative bricks from all over the world and all dynasties here, with a total of thousands of categories." In terms of collection categories, I am the 'brick family' with the most complete collection of bricks in the country's 'brick moving industry', and there is no doubt about this. I can focus on the category of ancient bricks, and become the largest collection of ancient bricks in China with the category of ancient bricks. ”
At present, Dai Yuanhuan is located in the Qingyuanzhai Ancient Brick Museum (in preparation) in Xinqiao Street, Bao'an, with a total collection of more than 3,500 ancient bricks.
The age of these ancient bricks spans several dynasties such as the Han, Wei, Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties, including eight categories: one is gluttony, the second is the fish pattern, the third is the dragon pattern, the fourth is the Ji language, the fifth is the surname, the sixth is the year number, the seventh is the wet stroke, and the eighth is the twisted tire.
It is worth mentioning that in Dai Yuanhuan's collection, the surname category has completed the collection of ancient bricks with 100 surnames, "that is, people with 100 surnames can see how their surnames were written more than 1,000 years ago." Dai Yuanhuan said.
He made the thousand-year-old bricks "live".
Changing hands on electronics factories, selling houses, and investing tens of millions of dollars to "move bricks," what will be relied upon to survive in the future? Dai Yuanhuan, who used to be a businessman, obviously has a business mind that is different from that of other collectors.
As a businessman, he is deeply aware that his dream of collecting can only continue if he makes the ancient bricks "live".
How to make these ancient bricks "live" and continue to generate additional economic value is a problem that needs to be solved urgently.
To this end, he has created six business models: "sales of ancient brick rubbing, cooperation with national calligraphy and painting masters to sell artworks; cooperation with schools to bring ancient brick knowledge and traditional monument extension art into the classroom; cooperation with the government to provide services such as 'ancient bricks and spreading art' into the community; cooperation with some cultural and creative companies to combine the words and patterns on ancient bricks to form derivative sales; and the establishment of a database of ancient brick characters and patterns for the paid use of the world design community".
Dai Yuanhuan's collection.
In addition to the above methods, he is currently trying to combine the derivatives of ancient bricks with "digital products" to open up a new business method and further broaden the added value of ancient bricks. To be specialized and stronger, let cultural and creative products go abroad, and continue to generate value with the derivative cultural and creative products of ancient bricks.
Today, his ancient brick museum has become the largest and most complete collection of ancient bricks in the southern part of the mainland. He himself has become a leading collector in many fields of the industry.
"It is my goal and wish to protect Han bricks and promote traditional Chinese culture, so that Qingyuanzhai ancient bricks can go out of Shenzhen and abroad," he confessed, and he also made short-term and long-term plans for himself on the road of protecting Han bricks and promoting traditional Chinese culture. In the future, he will continue to collect and expand the categories of ancient bricks, connect with ancient brick exhibitions across the country, increase the publicity and promotion of ancient bricks, and at the same time turn the ancient brick exhibition to the international market, so as to promote Chinese traditional culture, strengthen cultural self-confidence, and continue to contribute his own meager strength.
Dai Yuanhuan
Born in 1980, a native of Chaoshan, Guangdong, the director of the Qingyuanzhai Ancient Brick Museum, and the sixth batch of district-level intangible cultural heritage inheritors in Bao'an.
Reporter: Ke Ti
Photo: Courtesy of the interviewee
Editor: Chen Jianguo