Tracing the cultural charm, feeling the century-old ingenuity, welcome to the column "Discovering the Beauty of Intangible Cultural Heritage". This column is jointly launched by Weifang Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Association and Shandong Development Network weifang. In the last issue, Shandong Development Network Qilu Weekly took everyone to appreciate the ancient technique of mahogany inlay silver, and today we will approach a precious "lost pearl" in Weifang - the world of Weixian "smashing copper".
"Dangdang...", walking into the Qingyu Hall of the Shikatsuen Museum, a series of knocking sounds came into the ears. What caught the eye was Wei Wei, the inheritor of Weifang's copper smashing technique, holding a hammer in his hand and making a tea saucer. A plain piece of copper, made by Wei Wei's hammering thousands of times, was finally turned into a small and exquisite work of art.
It is understood that Weixian copper smashing is an ancient metal processing technology, which belongs to a kind of forging, which is called "pounding" in ancient times, or smelting vanadium, and the folk are also called "knocking method" and "harvesting and throwing live". This technique mainly uses the ductility of the metal to continuously pound the plasticity of the metal, repeating this process repeatedly until the shape and ornament are formed. Those who engaged in this industry were called "coppersmiths", and later, as the craftsmanship became more and more exquisite, they gradually became known as "silversmiths" and "goldsmiths". Wei Wei is the founder of Weifang Qingyutang Copper Smashing Technique Studio and the representative inheritor of Weixian Copper Smashing Technique. He has been learning the technique of smashing copper in Weixian County with his grandfather since he was a child, and has been around for more than 30 years.
"As far as I know, copper pounding has appeared in the Qing Dynasty in Weifang. At that time, Weifang was an important handicraft city in Jiangbei and the largest copper handicraft gathering point in Jiangbei. Merchants from the north came to Weifang to buy. Wei Wei introduced that although Weifang does not produce copper, due to geographical location and other reasons, a huge demand market has been formed, and the same series of handicrafts has also prospered in Weifang.
So far, Weixian copper smashing technology has been passed down for hundreds of years. However, due to the complexity of the process and the high labor intensity, few people have inherited this skill. Because of his love, Wei Wei learned to smash copper with his grandfather since he was a child, but the formal systematic learning and living by smashing copper began in 2008.
In 2008, Wei Wei saw Korean craftsmen such as woodcuts and smashing copper at the Korean Museum. Wei Wei, who had an itchy hand, also smashed an object at the moment, which shocked the Korean Museum, and then opened a copper smashing studio for Wei Wei at the Korean Museum.
Since then, Wei Wei has officially begun his career of "smashing copper". On the basis of inheriting his grandfather's technique of smashing copper, Wei Wei has repeatedly gone to South Korea, Japan and other countries to study in depth, and traced the origin of this skill. As the domestic copper smashing inheritors are becoming more and more rare, Wei Wei, who wants to make some contributions to Weifang copper smashing, returned to Weifang. In 2017, Wei Wei moved his studio to the Shiwaten Museum.
"The choice of the Shiwat Garden Museum is mainly because the museum has a large flow of people, which can gather tourists from all over the country, which is conducive to the spread of Weifang's copper smashing technique." In my place, as long as tourists are interested, they can experience it. Now that fewer and fewer people know that Weifang smashed copper, I want to make more people like it and pass it on through my own efforts. Wei Wei said.
In the studio, there are many works made by Wei Wei, and when talking about the most satisfactory works, Wei Wei smiled: "Each piece of smashed copper has its own unique charm, two pieces of the same style of smashed copper products are only roughly the same, the size is almost the same, but each pattern is different." There is no exact same smashing copper work in the world, and every hammer is not reproducible. ”
Now, there are fewer and fewer young inheritors of Weifang copper smashing, which is closely related to the skill itself. Wei Wei said that it takes about 3-4 years to get started with bronze, and creating a bronze is not only a long time cost, the wear and tear of long-term copper on the arm joints is also very serious, and the hearing will also have certain damage, making it difficult to inherit this skill. But as the influence of non-genetic inheritance has become more and more widespread, many young people who have come to admire this skill have loved it.
Today, although the grand scene of "two hundred red furnaces and three thousand copper blacksmiths" is no longer there, the copper smashing in Weifang continues to be carried forward in the hands of Wei Wei's generation. "Although Weifang's copper smashing is not as prosperous as in the last century, it has a lot of room for development." In recent years, with the gradual improvement of awareness of the protection of intangible cultural heritage, more and more young people have begun to learn weixian copper smashing techniques, and combined with modern materials, to a certain extent, broadening the development space of the craft, making this skill more familiar to the public. Wei Wei said that he hopes that more people like this craft, pass on this skill as a hobby, and teach them for free as long as there are students who like it.
"Dangdang..." In the clanging sound, there was the prosperity of the peak period of Weifang copper smashing technology hundreds of years ago, and there is also the development and future of Weifang copper smashing now, and there is also the tenacity of copper smashers who have been honed over hundreds of years. This spirit will eventually lead Weifang to smash copper back to the top.
After experiencing the ancient copper smashing technique spanning hundreds of years, in the next issue we will take you into the world of Weifang leather carving and experience the art of "cowhide".