Citizens who like to play with songbirds often say that the grasshoppers in the New Year can be exchanged for a mule, which not only describes the value of the grasshoppers after the winter, but also shows that it is not easy to raise an autumn insect through the winter. In the Qingming Festival, it is even rarer to see the live jumping grasshoppers, in front of the luggage door of the Song Army on the west side of Wangfu West Street Road in Qingzhou City, in addition to hearing the cries of grasshoppers in autumn, even the cries of grasshoppers can be heard throughout the year, especially in the cold wind and bone-chilling waxing moon, the cries of grasshoppers are amazing.
Song Jun is making grasshopper gourds.
On the afternoon of the 8th, in front of Song Jun's front room, the reporter saw his two "treasures", the larger one was locked in a delicate cage, the smaller one was in an organic tank, and the two grasshoppers looked rare in the early spring weather, although they lacked the sharpness of tigers and tigers, but they still looked relatively rare when other insects had not woken up.
Grasshoppers raised by the Song Army
The owner Song Jun told reporters that he is 50 years old this year, from playing grasshoppers in his youth to nearly 30 years of history, when talking about these cute little insects, he opened the conversation box, the history of grasshoppers, breeding technology, grasshopper types and how to identify the quality of grasshoppers He said that he was the head of the road, when the reporter called him a professional player, he modestly said that he knew nothing. Song Jun said that the two grasshoppers in his current hands are not local ordinary grasshoppers, but specially purchased from Tianjin, the local grasshopper market price in Qingzhou is about 10 yuan each, and his grasshoppers are more than 200 yuan each, which is a special breed carefully selected, if it is well raised, it is not a problem, and the local grasshopper is a hundred-day insect in the popular sense, the life expectancy is about 3 months, the most important thing is that his carefully selected foreign grasshoppers are crisp and pleasant, and the sound is like a hong bell, which is very different from the local grasshoppers.
"In more than 20 years of grasshopper rearing, it is generally not a problem to raise grasshoppers through the winter, and the longest one is raised until June, which can basically connect with the newly listed grasshoppers." Song Jun said that he is mainly interested, by the way, with the help of like-minded friends to select a few grasshoppers, "In the past, playing with grasshoppers and fighting crickets is also a traditional culture in the ancient city of Qingzhou, which has a long history, but with the development of the times, especially the acceleration of the pace of life of citizens, people are busy with work, and these traditional cultures that seem incompatible with normal life are gradually separated from normal life, and the life of the ancient city is much less leisurely."
In addition to raising grasshoppers, Song Jun is even more commendable that he also makes various tools for raising grasshoppers - grasshopper gourds. In the grasshopper gourd that Song Jun showed to reporters, from the ornaments that can be placed on the table to the utensils that can be carried in the arms, although the size is different, the craftsmanship is exquisite and unique. Song Jun said that don't look at the grasshopper gourd is small and exquisite, but the production process is quite cumbersome, from sawing gourds, with solid wood mouth covers, selecting gao Mengxin (decoration grid), to bile, branding, cleaning, insect prevention, mold prevention and other dozens of processes, only the production of tools is as many as dozens, exquisite workmanship of grasshopper gourds on the character landscape, animals and insects, there are also novel and chic Tang poetry Song words, people love to let go. Song Jun told reporters that the custom of using grasshopper gourds to raise songbirds in the Ming and Qing dynasties reached its peak, and this tradition was once popular in many places, but today, this fashion is only in the Beijing Tianjin area and has relatively perfect preservation.
Song Jun grasshopper gourd
Grasshopper gourds are beautiful, but making them is not easy, and the grasshopper gourds belong to a niche culture, so there are not many masters who know this craft. Song Jun told reporters that he learned this craft with Huang Jiancheng, a master who makes gold and silver jewelry in Wangfu Street, after nearly two years of study, and then studied while pondering, a few years of kung fu gradually understood this craft, last year, he made 3 grasshopper gourds, the girlfriend saw its exquisite and practical, she hung it on the Internet to sell, did not expect that 3 grasshopper gourds were ordered by a buyer in the northeast at a high price.
Song Jun's tools for making grasshopper gourds
Since the value of the grasshopper gourd is not cheap, why did Song Jun not do a full-time grasshopper gourd craftsman, Song Jun truthfully said, the cost of a grasshopper gourd is not high, but to elaborately make one, at least take two to three days or even more time to do, if you take a 300 yuan grasshopper gourd to calculate, remove the cost, the daily wage is very little, which is far from engaging in other business activities, losing the internal driving force of the economy, this traditional skill is also facing the dilemma of loss.
At the end of the interview, Song Jun frankly said that playing with grasshoppers and raising flowers, birds, insects and fish is just a pastime pleasure and a kind of spiritual sustenance, saying that it is not appropriate for their playthings to lose their minds, and people just more truly appreciate life and love life through the way of raising animals, so that people can add finishing touches in ordinary days.
Text/Photo Reporter Li Huawei