Text/Photo Peninsula all-media reporter Zhu Jiaxin
It is the season of birds migrating, and countless traces of wings fly through the sky. Wu Longlong, a villager in Da'ou Village, often looks at the sky, and he likes these birds and also likes bird cages. Qingdao Jimo District Qianfengdian Town Daou Village, the whole village is famous for bird cages, is the largest bird cage processing professional village in Jiangbei.
The Da'ou Village Memorial Hall displays a variety of bird cages.
"Zhang Yuan's dustpan, Mao Zibu's rise, Da'ou's bird cage into Beijing." Lan Gongyi, publicity office of Qianfengdian Town, said that the people of Qianfengdian Town would recite this sentence. In recent years, due to the protection of birds, the demand for ordinary bird cages has declined, and the handmade bird cage process has been inherited as an intangible cultural heritage, and gradually developed to the high-end of customization. Fewer and fewer young people learn to make birdcages, but most people over the age of 40 in the village still make birdcages. With the development of the times, As a Taobao village, Daou Village continues to explore, no longer using the birdcage as a single source of income, and constantly looking for new ways to get rich.
On November 2, the reporter came to Da'ou Village. The road into the village is clean and tidy, the streets are lined with street lamps in the shape of bird cages, and many villagers have set up their own studio door numbers in front of their homes. The cultural display board with the bird cage as the design element shows the development traceability of the bird cage and the development history of the bird cage in Daou, so that people can integrate into the strong cultural atmosphere as soon as they enter the village.
Wu Xitong, secretary of the grid of Daou Village
Daou Village, Qianfengdian Town, is located 25 kilometers northwest of Jimo District, from the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Dayou Birdcage has been passed down for hundreds of years, the production skills have become more and more exquisite, the popularity is getting higher and higher, and what remains unchanged is the dedication of the people of Daou Village to the handmade birdcage making. Following Wu Xitong, the grid secretary of Da'ou Village in Qianfengdian Town, walked in the village, and from time to time saw golden corn spreading on the square and flat ground, exuding the joy of harvest. Bamboo was piled up at the door of every house, and we came to the home of a villager who made bird cages, and as soon as we entered the door, we heard the creak of machinery. Looking closer, the machine is eye-catching the birdcage ring, and two birdcage rings are placed on a machine, which are processed by computer operation. Ms. Kuang, a villager, is removing the eye-catching birdcage ring from the machine and pressing on the other two birdcage rings that need to be eye-punched. She said that since marrying into the village, she learned to make bird cages, and her family now mainly produces semi-finished products, and this year's sales are OK, and they can sell out.
After entering the gate, there is a pot table on the right side, and there is a large cauldron with a mouth that is particularly eye-catching. This kind of cauldron, all the villagers who make bird cages, every household will have it, which is used to cook bamboo after finishing the bamboo.
Bird food cans in the accessories store
With the increase of high-end customization year by year, the sales of ordinary bird cages have shown a downward trend, and it will also have a certain impact on bird cage accessories. Wu Xitong said that any bird cage needs to be matched with accessories, such as cage hooks, standing sticks, bird food cans, can buckles, kanban boards, buckle hands, door flowers, etc., according to the size, color, number of types are too much, accessories sales mainly rely on the amount. There are villagers in the village who specialize in accessories, and the net profit is more than 300,000 yuan a year. Villager Wu Xibo has run a birdcage accessories store that has been open for more than 10 years, and there are thousands of accessories in the store. He said his father would make bird cages, he wouldn't make bird cages. The quality of his accessories is both high, medium and low, and the supply comes from all over the country, which is currently the main source of family economic resources, and this year's income affected by the epidemic has decreased compared with previous years.
Wu Xitong, secretary of the grid of Daou Village, told reporters that there are more than 480 households in the village, and more than 320 families make bird cages. From 2015 to 2018, it was the peak of the development of birdcage in Da'ou Village. At present, there are more than 200 households in the village and workshops have set up studio signs in front of the workshop, and there are 5 accessories stores. "In 2020, the online sales were very good, with sales exceeding 20 million, and the total output value of the village in 2021 was nearly 40 million, and it was rated as a Taobao village." In 2020, Daou Village established the Jimo District Birdcage Association, which serves everyone and continuously increases e-commerce sales. "The Internet has greatly expanded the birdcage market and is becoming a new wing for the people of Daou Village to increase their income and get rich, so that their hard work and sweat will be more rewarded."
Wu Xibo accessories store
Along the street of the village, to the home of villager Wu Longlong, his father was sitting in the doorway with a machete to split bamboo, and a pot of tea and a tea bowl were placed on the steps. Wu Longlong said that in recent years, the protection and control of birds has been relatively strict, and sales have declined. In particular, in February this year, the relevant state departments promulgated a new version of the "Directory of Wild Animals under National Key Protection", adding well-known "caged bird" species such as thrush, wren brother, red-threatened embroidered bird, etc. Illegal transportation and sale will be held accountable, which affects the market to a certain extent, but he fully understands and supports these policies.
Villager Wu Longlong
Wu Longlong's father has been a bird cage for more than 30 years, and after he retired from the army, he took over his father's work, mainly selling online. His father did it, he helped his father assemble it, and then he sold it online, he said that the annual turnover on the Internet was seven or eight hundred thousand, they were a family of 7, living with their parents, and last year they had a third child, and life felt quite satisfactory.
Handmade birdcage parts made by Wu Longlong's father
In addition to selling bird cages on the Internet, Wu Longlong also sells bird food cans, and he has a Jingdezhen bird food can for more than 5,000 yuan in three cans, which is not the most expensive. He said that many customers buy a bird cage for tens of thousands, and of course the bird food can can not be low-grade, it must be high-grade. Some customers in Beijing and Tianjin, in order to create their own characteristics, choose birds, bird cages, bird food cans are very exquisite. Wu Longlong said that his father mainly made pure handmade square cages, with octagonal and hexagonal. Technology is passed down from the previous generations. The horns of the birdcage must be roasted and bent by hand on fire, and the strength must be mastered. Because of the manual bending of corners, the process is complicated and laborious, many people do not choose to make corner cages, but choose to make round cages. The hexagonal birdcage is a classic developed by his father himself. A cage can sell for 1,000 yuan to 2,000 yuan, mainly for raising jade birds, yellow finches, and red birds.
Wu Longlong and his father sorted bamboo at the door of their home.
Wu Longlong said that live streaming with goods needs to rely on time, and has done it before, but the child has to go to school, and his daughter-in-law can't help him do live broadcasting, so the live broadcast is temporarily put down, he said that the follow-up has time to consider live streaming with goods, and the craftsmanship left by the elders is sent to thousands of households through live broadcasting, so that people know the style of the handmade bird cage in Daou.
Speaking of handmade bird cages, there are many handicraft experts in Daou Village, especially the villager Wu Hongbai, who has been learning to make bird cages with his father since he was 16 years old, and has been for nearly 40 years. Wearing a flower goggle, he is sitting in the studio carving the pattern of the bird cage frame, one will take a chisel chisel, the other will take a knife to carve, and now, Wu Hongbai can make more than twenty different bird cages, and the production craft is recognized as the highest in the village.
Mechanically crafted to give the birdcage rings an eye..
He said, "Every cage silk must be made with excellence, and the really good bird cages are handmade." "He is also a non-hereditary heir to the birdcage. He said that there are still more than 200 villagers in Daou Village who are proficient in handmade bird cage making methods, and they are also the main source of income for villagers, and each bird cage needs to go through more than 200 processes from raw materials to finished products, and many tools are used for each step. The production of bird cages starts from the selection of materials and drying materials, cutting materials, flattening, steaming materials, folding rings, rings, net rings, integers, engraving rings, parts production, cage wire and assembly.
In order to expand the influence of the birdcage culture of Da'ou Village and continuously improve skills, as early as October 2011, the village held a Da'ou birdcage skill competition, with more than 30 people participating, and the top six awards were rewarded, with prizes ranging from 10,000 yuan to 1,000 yuan. Wu Xitong said that through the competition, the main thing is to continuously improve the skills and make our production skills better inherited. Among the contestants, the older ones are in their 60s, the younger ones are in their 40s, and the birdcage makes this piece, and the villagers under the age of 40 do not participate in the competition. Villager Wu Xiangjun said that this year in the 16th Qingdao City Skills Competition in the bird cage skill competition achieved the sixth place, won a prize of 1,000 yuan, the heart of the united, he said that with his age, can not be compared with the skilled old craftsmen, although the results are good, but also have to continue to work hard.
Wu Xiangjun used mechanical eye punches to make semi-finished bird cages.
Wu Xitong has been doing bird cages for many years before, when it comes to the assembly line to make bird cages, he is relatively early to introduce mechanical processing, assembly line production is mainly used to produce conventional ordinary bird cages, he said that the busiest year hired more than 30 people to help work.
Subsequently, the reporter came to the Daou Rural Memory Museum, where traditional production tools were displayed, including carving knives, drawing boards, clip drills, etc. Which can add up to more than 30 pieces. Secretary Wu Xitong said that this is only a small part of the display, and there are many more in detail.
The production steps of the big European bird cage are cumbersome, with relatively high technicality, it is difficult for outsiders to copy, and the complex large bird cage takes at least two artists more than 20 days to complete. In the memorial there is a large lark birdcage, in the shape of a circle, 1 meter in diameter and 2.2 meters high. The top of the bird cage cage generally has a vault and the original top, in order to carry it conveniently, it can also be made into a cage that can be lifted and lowered by 2-3 knots, lowered when carried, and raised when hanging, so people in the industry are also called "dial cages", which is 3 dials. Wu Xitong said that the lark is a ground-dwelling bird, so there is no perch in the cage, only a mushroom-shaped platform in the middle of the bottom of the cage, also known as the Phoenix Platform. Which lark uses such a large cage is equivalent to living in a "villa". High-end birdcages are carved by hand, the price varies, and the expensive price is as high as ten thousand yuan.
Handmade birdcage makers are chopping bamboo.
Wu Xitong, secretary of the Daou Village Grid, said that with the growth of customized bird cages, the market for ordinary bird cages has declined, and the epidemic and the protection of some birds have caused the sales of bird cages in Daou Village to decline. In recent years, he has often thought with everyone about how to make the village's economy continue to develop. After government and multi-party research, their village will combine its own birdcage cultural advantages, and first divide the industrial space into four districts, including a beautiful rural tourism center area, an experiential agricultural tourism area, a modern agricultural planting area, and an ecological woodland conservation area.
Overall development layout of Da'ou Village
The beautiful rural tourism center area is located in the central area of the village, for the villagers' residential area, planning to enhance the overall image of the village through the renovation of the internal buildings, roads, environment, etc., and to create a tourism demonstration street, tourism demonstration households, into the characteristic tourism industry, to create a core attractive tourism products. Located in the area close to the north and south of the village, the experiential agrotourism area is planned to combine the natural and pastoral landscape around the water body, and arrange experiential agricultural tourism projects such as the green island system, camping base, orchard picking, ecological park, children's agricultural experience park, family farm, and pastoral sports field. Modern agricultural planting areas focus on the development of agricultural tourism, planting of characteristic agricultural products, and picking of agricultural products. The ecological woodland conservation area is located in the southeast of the village, and on the basis of protecting the current forestry planting ecological environment, varieties such as magnolia, cherry blossom and five-pointed maple are formed to improve ecological and economic benefits.
Birdcage semi-finished product
According to reports, in the first half of 2021, the village received more than 3,000 tourists, including more than 20 buses and more than 1,000 people in one week. Tourists mainly come to visit the construction of beautiful villages, as well as the construction of Da'ou birdcage culture, and then learn the development of e-commerce, many people who come to visit Da'ou Village are deeply impressed. Wu Xitong specifically mentioned the village of Kara in Longquan Town, Danzhai County, Guizhou, which is an ethnic cultural village inhabited by the Miao ethnic group and is also famous for the weaving of bird cages. Among the 114 households in the village, 98 are engaged in bamboo weaving, and in 2007, Kara Village was named "The Hometown of Birdcage Weaving Art" by the Guizhou Provincial Department of Culture. Some backbone villagers in Kara Village were surprised when they came to Da'ou Village to see it, and they said that a place that does not produce bamboo can make the bamboo products industry so big, which is really amazing!
Tour groups come to visit and learn.
Wu Xitong said that in the next three to five years, the village should complete the construction of homestays, farmhouses and picking gardens, continuously improve supporting facilities, use bird cage culture combined with tourism to increase income, on the basis of sustainable development, let the people live and work in peace and contentment, and bring new development opportunities for villagers in leisure and entertainment.
One side of the bird cage, bringing endless wealth to The Village of Da'ou, now Da'ou is in the birdcage, and is also surpassing the birdcage...
Indigo cage
Canary cage
Thrush cage
Embroidered eye cage
Bright cage
Yellow finches cage
A wide variety of bird bars
Birdcage accessories
Bird food tank
Bird food tanks of different shapes