The old craft is a traditional skill passed down by generations of craftsmen through words and deeds, ear to ear and eye and verified by history, not only a materialized presentation, but also a deep and dense inheritance of the Chinese nation's culture, emotions, and even clans for thousands of years, but with the progress of the times and the development of science and technology, some old crafts are gradually disappearing. In 2017, photographers paid attention to some old folk craftsmen, who are still adhering to the skills in their hands because of attachment, and exchange this skills for the capital of life.
On January 1, zhai Anmin, an elderly man who lives in Taowa Natural Village, Yanggan Village, Yangcheng Town, Ruicheng County, Shanxi Province, with the assistance of his son, buried a pot in a vacant lot in front of his home to set up a stove and burned persimmon wine in the original soil method every year. Zhai Anmin, 84, who learned the art of firing persimmon wine from his grandparents, said that most of the people who have mastered the art of burning persimmon wine in the primitive way are the elderly, and the young people either go out to work or are unwilling to learn because of the low price of persimmon wine. He only burns more than 100 kilograms of persimmon wine every year, a small part of which he drinks himself, and most of it will be sold for 15 yuan per kilogram to increase the income of the family.
On April 21, Wei Shaojie squatted in the shadow of the roadside and ate steamed buns. Wei Shaojie, 52 years old this year, is a dustpan repair craftsman, living in Luoning County, Henan Province, because there are more local dustpan craftsmen, can not earn money, so he put himself and bicycles on a long-distance bus to run to the countryside of Pinglu County, Shanxi, riding bicycles every day to walk the village to repair dustpans. He said that with the reduction of the use of dustpans, it is becoming more and more difficult to make money repairing dustpans, and it is usually only a few dozen yuan a day.
On January 2, wang Zhencao made a series of flower buns for the bridesmaids. Wang Zhencao is an old artist of flower steamed buns in Linyili Temple Village, Shanxi, who grew up following her mother to the East family and the West family to help the villagers pinch the flower buns and learn a good craft. Later, seeing that others earned money by their craftsmanship, she also opened a flower bun shop in the county town, specializing in making all kinds of flower buns for sale. Through this old craftsmanship, not only did he build a two-story courtyard for his son a few years ago, but he also ordered a unit for his grandson in the city.
On January 7, 67-year-old Yao Yinzhen sewed straw grates on kang, and the grates she made were not only used by herself, but also sold at the market. Grates are cookware that is set up in a pot to support food and steam food, and is mostly round. "The grates I make are not expensive, the big one is five dollars, the small one or two can sell for one hundred and ten dollars a week."
On January 8, the elderly Zhao Huaiyu was cutting a picture of the year of the rooster window flower. Zhao Huaiyu, who lives in Xialuzhi Village, Yongji City, Shanxi Province, is 80 years old this year, she learned the good craft of cutting window flowers with her mother from childhood, the window flowers cut are clear, festive and warm, both traditional simplicity, humble fun, but also have an original sense of beauty, deeply loved by the people, is a local famous window cutting flower expert. The window flowers cut by the old man before the Spring Festival will be sold at the market, and the price of one painting is 3 yuan to 5 yuan, and it is sold clean every time.
On May 28, flower steamed bun artists in Zezhao Village, Xindi County, Shanxi Province, kneaded tiger buns. Tiger bun is a category of Jinnan flower bun, steamed tiger bun over the Dragon Boat Festival to buy tiger bun, is the local folk ancestor worship, pray for peace and auspicious Dragon Boat Festival traditional customs. The 58-year-old Wei Shu and her wife opened a 12-year-old steamed bun shop in the village, and in order to catch the peak sales season of the Dragon Boat Festival, they hired five old artists to knead tiger buns in the shop two days in advance. Wei Shunu said that her steamed bun shop can earn 40,000-50,000 yuan a year, but the children feel that they earn less and are unwilling to follow them to learn to make flower buns.
On January 2, 65-year-old Xue Yangquan was busy leaking powder for villagers with a leaky scoop. In the cold winter, especially after the temperature dropped below zero, the sweet potato noodle processing point in Yongji Tule Village, Shanxi Province, began to build a fire and set up a stove, using traditional technology to leak noodles for villagers. Old Xue was called an iron hand by the villagers, don't look at him is already sixty years old, but he has a strong arm strength, he can continuously lift a leaky scoop to leak a pot of dozens of pounds of dough, without resting in the middle. It is understood that old Xue Gan can earn more than 200 yuan a day.
On July 16, the elderly Wu Meiyu created paper-cut works in his studio. Wu Meiyu, a 78-year-old rural woman in Ruicheng, Shanxi Province, began to learn paper-cutting at the age of 64, and in just 10 years, she went from a housewife who knew nothing about paper-cutting to a well-known paper-cutting master in the local area. Last year, the elderly earned more than 30,000 yuan by cutting paper, and one of them sold for 2800 yuan.
On March 14, Dong Shucheng made sugar paintings at a temple fair in Yongji, Shanxi. Dong Shucheng, a 49-year-old native of Anyang, Henan Province, grew up learning to make his father's ancestral craft - sugar painting, and his sugar painting skills are now a municipal intangible cultural heritage project. Dong Shucheng used to be a worker in an enterprise, after the bankruptcy of the enterprise, he and a few friends opened a physical enterprise, the result is not good, the loss, in order to make a living, he picked up the sugar painting skills again, from three years ago began to wander around the temple fairs in the north of China, scenic spots to do sugar painting to earn money, an average month of 5, 6 thousand yuan income. For more information, keep an eye on the headline Big River Native.