What does this fairy umbrella look like, which is exported to South Korea, rejected CCTV, and received 5.56 million likes on Douyin?

Speaking of oil-paper umbrellas, the first thing that people think of may be the song "Rain Alley" in the primary school textbook, in which a girl with sorrow and resentment like a lilac floats in front of our eyes; or they think of the white umbrella. The beautiful legend of "borrowing an umbrella and returning an umbrella" originated from the story of the lady and Xu Xian on the edge of the broken bridge...

In modern times, people have increasingly higher requirements for the practicality of daily necessities. Low-priced, portable industrial umbrellas have become people's first choice, and handmade oil-paper umbrellas that have been passed down for thousands of years have slowly become far away from our daily lives.

In recent years, with the growing subculture of young people’s Hanfu, COS, and Chinese-style games on social media, everyone has become interested in some folk items such as oil-paper umbrellas. With relatively good acceptance, the oil-paper umbrella seems to be reviving with a new life form.

For those ladies holding beautiful oil-paper umbrellas and wearing Hanfu walking on the street, most people can't help but sigh: "How beautiful!"

Handmade Umbrellas Master Wen Shishan said that he would never forget that scene: the college student wearing Hanfu took my oil-paper umbrella to take pictures. I looked at them holding the umbrella and it was really beautiful. He couldn't help but sigh: Fortunately, he didn't give up back then.

Fuyang Umbrella Making Village was once very prosperous more than half a century ago, but now only Wen Shishan is still making umbrellas. After he uploaded some pictures of himself making umbrellas to the Douyin platform, he attracted 600,000 fans and 5.56 million likes in more than half a year.

Wen Shishan said: "I want to use Douyin to let more young people remember and inherit this 'intangible cultural heritage'!" His works are affectionately called by fans: " "Uncle Wen's Umbrella".

Wen Shishan was born in Daoling Natural Village, Fuyang. There are many bamboos in Daoling, and bamboo happens to be the main raw material for making oil-paper umbrellas. Wen Shishan's father was once a well-known local umbrella maker.

In the 1970s and 1980s, with the emergence of nylon steel-frame umbrellas, oil-paper umbrellas gradually withdrew from the market. Forced to make a living, Uncle Wen's father also gave up making umbrellas.

By the time the old secretary of the village went to plead with him to revive this traditional craft, there had been a gap of more than 20 years. Wen Shishan only started to learn the craft of making oil-paper umbrellas in high school. There was no complete umbrella-making craft to refer to. He could only rely on himself to explore and improve step by step, seek advice from other places, and rediscover the craft that had been lost for more than 20 years. It took more than thirty years to do this.

Through constant exploration, Wen Shishan improved his father's 72 processes at that time to the current 106 processes, and continued to strive for excellence in material selection and production technology.

Sawing bamboo tubes, slicing, drilling holes, slotting, making umbrella plates, threading umbrella stands, color matching, pasting umbrella covers, threading decorative lines, painting, ironing, sawing claws, folding umbrellas... After After more than a hundred processes layer upon layer, it is finally completed.

He once said: "The standard I have set for myself is that it will be moth-free for 50 years, and I promise a lifetime free warranty." Under the premise of strict quality control, the production process of handmade oil-paper umbrellas is even more cumbersome, so Usually the factory will ask more than 10 people to help, but some key processes can only be completed by ourselves.

Last time, when Typhoon Lekima swept through the Zhejiang area, Uncle Wen also released a special wind resistance test of his umbrellas. Compared with ordinary industrial umbrellas, they were clearly superior. The video received more than 800,000 likes from netizens in just 2 days.

Chinese oil-paper umbrellas have a long history. After Cai Lun improved paper in the Eastern Han Dynasty, oil-paper umbrellas brushed with tung oil to make them waterproof appeared. Later, as it developed, literati wrote poems and paintings on the umbrellas to express their feelings.

Oil-paper umbrellas were introduced to Japan and Korea in the Tang Dynasty. They were called "Tang Umbrellas" in Japan in the early days and were later renamed "Japanese Umbrellas". In Japan, oil-paper umbrellas are often used as props in traditional weddings and traditional dances, and they have become increasingly nationalized and become an important symbol of Japanese kabuki music.

In 1987, there was a friendship project between Hangzhou and Gifu, Japan, which involved paper umbrellas. The Japanese found Master Wen to make umbrellas, but they were not satisfied with the Chinese oil-paper umbrellas at first. They thought the workmanship was too rough and the frame was not strong enough, so they hired technical personnel for guidance.

Through mutual learning and mutual learning, Japanese umbrella-making technology and traditional Chinese craftsmanship were combined, and the quality of the umbrellas was recognized. They were welcomed by Japanese customers and successfully opened up the Japanese market.

The Korean Paper Umbrella Association was very moved after seeing Uncle Wen’s works on the Internet, and invited the couple to go to Korean TV for related filming, but Uncle Wen refused without hesitation.

Uncle Wen said on Douyin: "After they bought my machines and equipment, this oil-paper umbrella is theirs, and they are going to apply for intangible cultural heritage." A simple and straightforward statement , showing his attitude of adhering to traditional Chinese culture, and also received 350,000 likes from netizens.

In fact, not only was the Korean TV station rejected when it wanted to film, but CCTV was also rejected when it wanted to film Uncle Wen making umbrellas more than ten years ago. At that time, Uncle Wen felt that he had many orders anyway, especially overseas orders, so he did not need too much exposure and fame. At the same time, he was also worried that his key craftsmanship would be leaked, so he shot in Sichuan, Fujian and other places.

Later, Luzhou oil-paper umbrellas became famous all over the world, and applied for national intangible cultural heritage. In the intervening years, Uncle Wen had been making his own umbrella in obscurity. It was not until 2014 that he won the provincial intangible cultural heritage title. Later, thinking about it, he felt a little regretful.

In October 2108, during an intangible cultural heritage event, Zhang Jianhua, founder of the video production agency Xungu MCN, approached Uncle Wen to seek cooperation on a short video platform.

Uncle Wen didn’t want to make the mistake of refusing to be interviewed by CCTV again. He felt that he had missed an opportunity to clear his name. He didn’t want to miss it a second time. He also wanted more young Chinese people to pay attention to traditional Chinese oil-paper umbrellas. beauty. (Previously, Uncle Wen’s umbrellas could only be sold to Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States. Almost no one in the domestic market paid attention to this, which troubled him very much.)

It has only been about 8 months since the first video was released. Within a short period of time, "Uncle Wen's Umbrella" had accumulated 600,000 fans and received 5.56 million likes. Platform data shows that a single video can convert up to 60,000 yuan in sales, and many people have begun to purchase directly through short video links.

"Originally, we were unable to take orders from foreign markets. Now we have to deal with domestic orders. Orders have been scheduled until next year." There are too many orders, the production speed cannot keep up, and assembly line production is not possible. It is easy for buyers and sellers to argue.

Uncle Wen is also worried about this: "Too many orders is not a good thing. It takes decades to establish a brand, but if it breaks down, it may only take a few months." Being too hasty and too market-oriented may lead to It’s just good intentions that lead to bad things. There is no shortage of market for good craftsmen, so only if they make good things conscientiously, they should not change their original intention of making umbrellas in order to increase income.

“Many people suggested that I should spend more time on the aesthetics and not be too practical, as this would sell much faster. In fact, that’s right. Intangible cultural heritage should change with the times, but oil-paper umbrellas It used to be a practical daily necessities. If this aspect changes, the original taste will be gone.

I am afraid that in tens or hundreds of years, future generations will no longer know its craftsmanship. I thought the oil-paper umbrella was just for beautiful photos."

As the saying goes, "There are many people who are famous for their right and wrong." In addition to the issues of process and output control, some people questioned his motives for making videos, saying that he was making up stories to sell feelings. But Uncle Wen convinced many people with his simple words. He said: "If I just made it up randomly, "My neighbors and friends in the village will laugh at me."

Now, Wen Shishan is still teaching at a university, and the first question he gives his students in his first class is " Do you know the Chinese oil-paper umbrella?" He wants more young people to understand and inherit this "intangible cultural heritage".

"I was originally worried that no one would inherit this skill, but I didn't expect that young people would take the initiative to learn it." Uncle Wen was very pleased with this. The good things left by our ancestors should be carried forward in the hands of more young people.

(Some text sources are from "Fuyang Daily" and "Qianjiang Evening News", some pictures are from Huaban.com, and have been deleted)