Hangzhou people use Tianzhu chopsticks, quite a kind of "wine and meat through the intestines, the Buddha's heart stays" artistic conception. —The owner
Life, always can not escape the box of food, clothing, shelter and transportation, it is said that the people take food as the sky, eating, is a big thing. In this big thing, Chinese can't do without chopsticks. The author went to Lingyin several times during his school days in Hangzhou, and the most incomprehensible thing was not the strange rule of Lingyin buying two tickets, but the pilgrims who lined up to buy chopsticks. After inquiring about it, I learned that this is a Specialty of Hangzhou - Tianzhu Chopsticks.
Legend has it that in the early years, hangzhou Tianzhu Mountain had a Zhongtianzhu Temple, the incense was extremely strong, and pilgrims who came and went liked to enjoy a vegetarian fast in the temple. There are many people, chopsticks are not enough, fortunately, in the legend, there are always some clever monks in each temple, they take local materials, fold the bamboo in the Tianzhu Mountains to use as chopsticks for pilgrims, use it with bamboo incense, and soon became popular and became a famous chopstick in Hangzhou - Tianzhu chopsticks. Perhaps it is precisely because the legend of Tianzhu chopsticks carries some incense of the gods and Buddhas, and the chopsticks are often decorated with Buddha statues. Hangzhou people use Tianzhu chopsticks, quite a kind of "wine and meat through the intestines, the Buddha's heart stays" artistic conception.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, the locals had a tradition of taking bamboo chopsticks, and during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, a Pan Sansi craftsman made improvements to the traditional Tianzhu chopsticks, inlaid with silver heads, branded with flowers, and dipped the lower part of the chopsticks with jujube color, which was quite beautiful and sold as a commodity, which was widely popular.
Today, Tianzhu chopsticks have become the intangible cultural heritage of Gongshu District. West Lake, Lingyin, Canal, Hangzhou can see these gifts of Hangzhou style bamboo chopsticks everywhere, but for the old Hangzhou, Tianzhu chopsticks are more about the memory of "food" in life.
Tianzhu chopsticks
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Tianzhu chopsticks - Ten views of the West Lake
Tianzhu chopsticks - canal story
"There is no standard, done casually. There is no connotation, and it is done pale. The craftsmen give it life, and the literati give it a soul. Only when the two are combined, the Tianzhu chopsticks are alive. --Wang Liandao, the fifth generation of Tianzhu chopsticks.
Wang Liandao
Wang Liandao's exhibited works
Image source: Owner Fan
Finishing/Writing: The Owner