Why can the rural elderly in China be praised by 40 million foreigners and watched by 200 million people?

China's traditional culture is profound and has a long history. The ancients in China not only left us many excellent virtues, but also created many miracles with their wisdom at that time, leaving many unique and exquisite skills for China. Among them, Lu Ban is a great carpenter in the architectural history of China.

Recently, an old man from a rural area in Shandong became a hit on the Internet, with 40 million plays on foreign social media. It was praised by foreign netizens as "the reincarnation of Lu Ban". This grandpa is Wang Dewen, and everyone calls him "Grandpa A Mu".

I fell in love with wood art when I was young.

Grandpa A Mu is from Liaocheng, Shandong Province, and his real name is Wang Dewen. Now he is over 60 years old. I didn't expect that the video of "Luban Bench" made by myself would suddenly become popular on the Internet, with a broadcast volume of 40 million, which was recognized by the public and made people all over the world see the exquisite carpentry in China.

Grandpa A Mu began to like carpentry when he was 13 years old. Later, my father died and my mother was in poor health. I chose to drop out of school at a young age, support my family by my own carpentry skills, and make a living as a carpenter.

Woodworking is a very hard job. In order to learn this skill, Grandpa A Mu suffered a lot and left many scars on his hands and arms. He even almost cut off his finger at a job, but he never wanted to give up.

The first three years as an apprentice are the hardest and most tiring. There is a problem of food and clothing in his family, but he can't get paid as an apprentice. He had to run around with Master and then go home to make the tools he needed to accumulate experience for the future.

In this way, Wang Dewen persisted for 50 years and supported his family by his own craft. Although he has suffered a lot in this line of work, he feels that he has to love this line and can reap happiness and success from woodworking.

Upload network video

Grandpa A Mu uploaded a video of himself accidentally making a "Luban stool". His son used to make food videos for a living. Later, his career hit a bottleneck and he went back to his hometown to discuss countermeasures with his father.

So Grandpa A Mu remembered that he had seen a video of someone making a Luban stool on the Internet. The video was not taken carefully, and there was no way for people to really understand the wonderful woodworking skills. He communicated his ideas with his son, and the father and son decided to make a video of his carpentry for him and upload it to the Internet.

In fact, for a long time, the old man just worked as a carpenter to make toys for his precious grandson. Seeing the bubble machine played by other children, the old man made one for his grandson when he went home, but the bubble machine he made was the most unique, all made of wood, not plastic. The old man also made all kinds of interesting toys for his grandson, such as Peggy, bamboo dragonfly and awning boat, which made him very happy.

The old man's original idea was only to help his son tide over the difficulties, but also to promote traditional skills. I didn't expect to set off such a craze on the internet. Seeing the enthusiastic response from netizens, the elderly are also happy to continue shooting such videos. He told his son that all the details of wood art production should be photographed clearly and clearly, so that more people can understand learning.

Soon, the old man not only became popular on social networks in China, but also spread his fame abroad. Foreign netizens saw Grandpa A Mu's superb skills and called him "the reincarnation of Luban".

Grandpa A Mu's life hasn't changed since he became popular on the Internet. He still lives in the original cabin, near a stream, and can clearly hear the gurgling sound of running water at ordinary times. He lived a leisurely life in a quiet place like Xanadu.

Exquisite skill

How skilled is Grandpa A Mu? At first, some netizens even suspected that he was made by using 3D printing technology. It is hard to believe that he can make such exquisite wood products by hand.

Grandpa A Mu has gained many loyal fans on foreign social platforms. Before China people explained wood art, foreign netizens had defended Grandpa A Mu. They know that there was an architect named Lu Ban in ancient China, who spliced wood and other appliances through tenon-mortise structure without riveting. They admire the exquisite skills of the old people very much and even regard them as idols.

Nowadays, the number of videos played by the elderly has exceeded 200 million, and the number of subscribers has reached1170,000. An old man who doesn't even know what an online celebrity is has thus become an online celebrity of a carpenter.

The old man's favorite work is the model of the China Pavilion of the World Expo. Every small part is carefully designed by the old man and polished bit by bit. In the whole process, every detail can't go wrong, otherwise even a little mistake will make the whole work fall short. It can be seen that this craft not only tests the producer's skill, but also tests people's patience and undivided attention.

In addition to superb skills and super concentration, Grandpa A Mu also has a set of his own exclusive tools when doing woodworking. These include thin wire and traditional hand-pulled drills. Old people don't need compasses at all to draw a circle, just a piece of wood and a nail, which are very primitive tools, so every wooden handicraft is made slowly according to traditional techniques. Even a small Luban stool takes seven days, which takes 12 steps to complete.

Traditional skills of China

Grandpa A Mu had to mention the traditional tenon-mortise technology in China when he was making wood products. This technology was invented by the ancients in China as early as 7,000 years ago, and was later carried forward by Lu Ban, and applied in various wood products and architectural fields. This stable and solid structure made of wood is as magical to foreign netizens as China Kung Fu and China's tricks.

Luban is the originator of carpentry in the field of architecture in China. It was he who developed the mortise and tenon structure and woodworking skills. Nowadays, the widely circulated Lubansuo is a household name, and he is also regarded as a symbol of the wisdom of ancient working people. There is also an idiom called "teaching an axe in class", which means to show off one's skills in front of experts, and it means to dance an axe in front of Lu Ban, which shows that people highly affirm Lu Ban's woodworking skills.

Nowadays, with the development of science and technology, many times we can use advanced technology to do things, and even directly use 3D printers to do what we want. Traditional skills are gradually forgotten, so we may gradually lose these excellent cultures.

I hope Grandpa A Mu can continue to upload his own woodworking videos. I also hope that more young people will pay attention to and learn from these traditional things and carry them forward so that the wisdom of the ancient people in China will not be forgotten.

We must thank those craftsmen who still adhere to traditional skills. Each of their works embodies originality. Such skills and persistent spirit are worth learning by the younger generation.