People who have read Chen Chongyuan's "Antique History" know that since the opening of the Beijing Liuli Factory in the late Qing Dynasty, most of the antique merchants have eaten Shanxi goods, and until now many people are still eating Shanxi goods. Shanxi's underground, cities, villages, and temples have been turned over more than three times and five times, but Shanxi still supports those who survive by operating antiques. Why are there so many antiques in Shanxi?
A long history of 1,000 or 5,000 years, its remains are like a sea of stars. It is said that three thousand years of civilization looks at Shaanxi, and five thousand years of civilization looks at Shanxi. Underground cultural relics look at Shaanxi, and aboveground cultural relics look at Shanxi. In fact, the underground cultural relics in Shanxi are not less than those in Shaanxi, and the accumulation of five thousand years, how many people there are in the Yang Dynasty, how many people will be buried underground. It is possible to dig up rare treasures under every inch of land. Before liberation, although people also hated stealing graves and revealing tombs, the cultural relics unearthed by soil extraction and construction were also rich enough, mainly bronze, followed by jade, and many people in the glass factory operated this way of goods.
Second, Shanxi's location advantage determines the diversity and scarcity of Shanxi's artworks. From the Han and Tang dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties, Shanxi has always been at the intersection of agricultural civilization and nomadic culture, so the artworks present the characteristics of multiple ethnic groups. In other words, Shanxi's artworks absorb the excellent cultures of various ethnic groups and form their own unique styles. For example, the Buddhist offering tables and offerings in Datong are not comparable to those in ordinary areas.
Third, Shanxi people have culture and taste. Jin Shang dominated China for five hundred years, and their rich financial resources enhanced their aesthetics. Gold, silver and jade calligraphy and painting porcelain, stone carved furniture, statue printing plates, everything is available, and the grade is extremely high. Shanxi merchants once invited the famous painter Yuan Jiang Yuan Yao to Shanxi to paint during the Kangxi Dynasty, with a huge scale and a high hanging hall. Jincheng furniture taste is very high, held in Beijing in the ancient Chinese fine furniture exhibition, the lack of Jincheng furniture, like a meeting without the host.
Fourth, Shanxi people are frugal and cherish things. In the past, many people said that Shanxi people were nine hairs and nine, mocking Shanxi people for being stingy. In fact, nine cents is a kind of business wisdom, a dollar is a dollar, nine cents is a dime, many people are so psychological. Shanxi people cherish things, love property, and do not litter and throw things away. When adults were young, we were taught to love our belongings and save as much as possible. Fenyang people have to use walnut oil to wipe furniture every day, and the furniture that comes out of Fenyang has a first-class skin shell and excellent quality. It is also the shanxi people's cherishing things that have made so many ancient logistics pass down.
Fifth, Shanxi people pay attention to saving thick and thick. It is a good year to think of a disaster year. There is a new three years old three years old, sewing and mending for another three years of style, and the bottom of the box has a large number of homes that are reluctant to use. One after another, it has become an antique in our current sense.
The Shanxi people are a typical place where Confucian culture is practiced, not only thinking about the light front, but also thinking about the Yuhou. The life arrangement is orderly, and the life is orderly. These factors have made Shanxi folk survive a large number of antiquities, which have become the resources on which many of us rely for survival.