Stories related to Wang Mazi’s scissors

It is said that in Shanghai in the early years of the Republic of China, there was a Wang Mazi scissors shop. Just because it became famous, three scissor shops pretended to be its shop.

The Wang Mazi Scissors Shop was located at the entrance of an lane on Nanjing Road, the most prosperous commercial district in Shanghai at that time. The fake Wang Mazi Scissors Shop was also located at the entrance of three other lanes on Nanjing Road. One day, Wang Mazi's disciple Di Agui wrote the word "true" on the door of the store, indicating that Wang Mazi's scissor shop was the only one in Shanghai and had no other branches. For several days, the supply of scissors in Wang Mazi's scissor shop exceeded demand. The other three fake Wang Mazi scissor shops did not sell a single pair of scissors for several days.

The secret on the door of Wang Mazi’s scissor shop was discovered by three other families, and they followed suit one after another. The first one added two words "Zhen" on the plaque on the door of the store, and it became "Zhenzhen Wang Mazi Scissors Shop". The second store did not show any weakness. Not only did it add three more characters of "zhen", but it also added the character of "老" at the end to prove that its store was a "time-honored brand" and became "zhenzhenzhen". Lao Wang Mazi Scissor Shop”. The third one was even more original. Not only did it write "Zhen Laowang Hemp Seed Scissor Shop" on the plaque, but it also went to the countryside of Suzhou to hire a 60-year-old blacksmith with pockmarks on his face. For a time, the scissors market in Shanghai became a topic of discussion after dinner. Many foreign businessmen come to Shanghai to buy scissors, but they don't know which one is the real Wang Mazi Scissors Shop.

At this time when it was difficult to distinguish between true and false, making people laugh and cry, Wang Mazi, the owner of Wang Mazi Scissors, a Changzhou native in his 50s, asked his apprentice to erase the word "real" on the door. Changed to a couplet - "Zhao Mazi, Huang Mazi, Zhang Mazi, all label themselves Wang Mazi, and everyone can distinguish fakes; non scissors, Er scissors, other scissors, all call them Allah's true scissors, God knows the fake and the true." Hengbiao. It’s “you’ll know in two years.”

A year later, two of the four genuine and fake Wang Mazi Scissor Shops were lost, leaving only one genuine and one fake, namely the Wang Mazi Scissor Shop and the "Real Lao Wang Mazi Scissors Shop". It turns out that Wang Mazi's scissor shop has special craftsmanship. The scissors do not curl after three years of use, and the steel fire is good. The pockmarked blacksmith employed by "Zhen Laowang Hemp Seed Scissors Shop" also has certain skills. The other two families were defeated.

A year and a half later, the owner of the "Zhen Laowang Mazi Scissors Shop" had a dispute with the Mazi blacksmith he hired over wages, and was beaten up by a gang of Shanghai hooligans led by Huang Ada, the son of the Mazi blacksmith. After entering the store, the real and fake Wang Mazi Scissor Store revealed its original shape. During the Spring Festival this year, Wang Mazi Scissor Shop posted an ingenious couplet - "The clown who deceived the world and stole fame and cheated on others was disgraced yesterday, but a gentleman who is upright and upright will save his wealth today."