Chapter 182 Intangible Cultural Heritage Liu Hongmin took Li Lizhen to visit Beijing for a few days. At that time, Beijing was indeed not as good as Hong Kong, but its cultural heritage far exceeded that of Hong Kong. The courtyard houses and historical sites everywhere opened Li Lizhen's eyes. On this day, Liu Hongmin took her to a courtyard house near his home. When the people inside saw Liu Hongmin, they immediately came up to him warmly and said, "Comrade Hongmin, you are back from Hong Kong?" Liu Hongmin nodded and said with a smile: "Are you used to it here?" "I'm used to it, of course I'm used to it." The man smiled and said, "This is the best place we've ever stayed in." Li Lizhen looked at the things in the yard curiously. It seemed like a workshop, and she didn't know what many things were used for. After entering the yard, through an open door, she saw that there were many bows inside. She quickly pulled Liu Hongmin and said, "Honey, what are they doing?" Liu Hongmin: "I forgot to introduce you. This is Mr. Yang, the inheritor of the Juyuanhao bow and arrow manufacturing craft." "Hello!" Li Lizhen greeted Mr. Yang. Liu Hongmin explained: "The craftsmanship of making Juyuanhao bows and arrows inherits the fine tradition of China's hyperbolic recurved compound bows. The main body of the bow is made of bamboo, with horns on the outside and tendons on the inside, and wooden bows installed at both ends. The production of the bow is divided into two links: the "white work" of the bow and the "painting" of the decoration. Bowstrings are generally made of cowhide and cotton thread. Juyuanhao mostly uses cotton thread. The steps of arrow making mainly include adjusting the rod, beating the leather, scraping the rod, installing the arrowhead and tail feathers, etc."
"I am quite interested in ancient weapons, so I invited Mr. Yang to come and cooperate with me to open this workshop. I kept some of the bows and arrows for my own collection, and delivered the rest to the Friendship Store. After the formalities are completed, we will take them to Hong Kong to sell." "Oh, I see!" Li Lizhen continued to look around, and then saw that the house opposite didn't seem to only make bows and arrows. "What's over there?" "Cloisonné." Liu Hongmin said: "In recent years, the market for antiques and artworks has been bullish. Many people who make cloisonné have seen this opportunity and have made a lot of inferior products that have entered the market. This has made many old masters very dissatisfied, but they have no income if they leave their jobs. It just so happens that I also collect cloisonné, so I also reached a cooperation with them." Li Lizhen looked at him with a smile, "You like collecting?" Liu Hongmin smiled and said, "Of course! Everyone in Beijing knows that I like collecting. You know that, don't you?" Li Lizhen looked around and said, "Then let me see what else you have collected." "Come on! I'll come visit you!" Liu Hongmin and Mr. Yang said, "You go ahead and do your work, we'll just take a walk." "Okay, if Comrade Hongmin needs anything, just tell me directly." "no problem." Li Lizhen hugged Liu Hongmin's shoulders and asked, "Why does Mr. Yang call you Comrade Hongmin?" Liu Hongmin smiled and said, "Because I like people calling me that." "How about I call you Comrade Hongmin?" "I prefer you to call me dear." "Honey!" Li Lizhen called sweetly and happily followed Liu Hongmin forward. "This is where Ming-style furniture is made. Ming-style furniture is hardwood furniture that combines practicality and artistry. It uses a variety of production techniques, including design, woodworking, carving, and waxing, to combine precious hardwood materials with scientific and reasonable mortise and tenon structures, solemn and elegant shapes, and beautiful carvings to form a luxurious and elegant artistic style, achieving a perfect fusion of court art and folk art, and has high artistic and academic research value." "very beautiful." "This is Beijing lacquer carving. Beijing lacquer carving products are of various types and rich in themes. Its design and creation integrate carving, painting and craftsmanship, and have solemn and elegant artistry. It plays an irreplaceable role in improving people's aesthetic literacy and beautifying their lives in modern society. Beijing lacquer carving craft concentrates on China's long-standing lacquer craft cultural tradition and is an indispensable and important content for the study of traditional Chinese arts and crafts." "The craftsmanship of Beijing's Zhayan kites is divided into four aspects: tying, pasting, painting and releasing. The kites made are brightly colored and have eye-catching lines, making them easy to launch and fly. Each Beijing Zhayan kite has a skeleton diagram, a colorful drawing, and comes with tips for tying and pasting, as well as painting tips. It is a kite school with the most Beijing characteristics."
"The filigree inlay in Beijing is known for weaving and stacking, and it also often uses the kingfisher feather technique, which is to stick the blue-green feathers of kingfishers on gold and silver products to enhance the artistic effect. However, because it is too cruel to obtain feathers from live kingfishers, it is now banned. Therefore, in recent years, the number of productions has dropped sharply. Therefore, in order to prevent this skill from being lost——" Li Lizhen continued: "You can cooperate with them to open a workshop." Liu Hongmin smiled and said: "That's right, many of the technologies here are endangered or have been severely reduced in production. If they are not protected, they may be lost in the future." Li Lizhen nodded, "But filigree inlay is a bit cruel." "So the ones we are using now are the kingfishers that have just died. The yard here is specially used to raise kingfishers. After breeding to a certain number, the excess ones will be released back into the wild to fill the number of kingfishers in the wild." Li Lizhen breathed a sigh of relief, "I knew that dear is a good person." "I'm not a good person. It's inevitable to sacrifice some animals for some precious technology. But I will do it through artificial breeding instead of taking them from the wild. As long as I don't buy or sell them, there will be no harm to animals." Liu Hongmin is not a saint and will not show love easily. He just wants sustainable development. These technologies will be intangible cultural heritage in the future and witnesses of history. They prove the development of ancient Chinese technology and the glory of our history. Therefore, even if it costs us our own money, we must pass on these technologies. This project started when Liu Hongmin was looking for someone to make Transformers models. After a few years, it has taken shape. There are some technologies that can produce finished products quickly and it has started to make money. Liu Hongmin helped these masters recruit apprentices, all of whom were college students from art schools, mainly studying fine arts and sculpture. Those who can study such a major all have a hobby in this area. After graduation, they basically go to various factories. Now Liu Hongmin gives them double the salary, so they are naturally willing to come here to be apprentices. Liu Hongmin's fame was here, and those who followed him were now rich ahead of time. As long as they did not want to pursue a career in politics, they would not give up this opportunity. Of course, Liu Hongmin doesn't accept everyone. These students need to be approved by the masters, and only those who meet the requirements will be recruited. (End of this chapter)