Hairy monkeys are folk art, and the material has nothing to do with monkeys. What is it made of?

The hairy monkey's limbs are made of cicada slough, and its body is another Chinese medicine, Flos Magnoliae. Monkeys sometimes wear hats, which is also a kind of Chinese medicine called Akebia Akebia. What combines these parts is called bletilla striata.

"A Half-inch Monkey Goes to Kyoto" vividly depicts the customs. The line drawing is exquisite and innovative, and two kinds of decoction pieces are better than pearls. This is a poem by Hu Jieqing, the wife of Lao She, praising "Beijing hairy monkey".

"Beijing hairy monkey" is also called "China cicada slough". It is said that during the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a drugstore named "Nanqingrentang" on the Romanesque street outside Xuanwu Gate in Beijing. The clerk in the shop was scolded by the accountant, but he was afraid of losing his job and had to swallow it.

In the evening, bored, he made the trunk of magnolia flower buds into magnolia flowers, and cut off the cicada's nose as a pledge. His front legs were used as lower limbs and his hind legs as upper limbs, and they were glued together with bletilla striata to make an image of an accountant who was nobody but a monkey to vent his anger. Thus, the first "hairy monkey" was born.

Instead of criticizing the little apprentice, the drugstore owner was amused by the vivid and lovely monkey appearance. Later, he sold the main materials for making "hairy monkeys", such as magnolia flower, cicada slough, bletilla striata and Akebia, commonly known as "monkey material".

"Hairy monkey" is deeply loved by people, and its image-building is becoming more and more systematic, gradually forming a work of art with Beijing cultural connotation. Take the works of Cao, a famous producer of Hairy Monkey in Beijing, for example, which can be roughly divided into the following categories according to the subject matter. Works with traditional themes are full of Beijing flavor. Such as "pulling rickshaws", "selling old tofu" and "sharpening knives", as well as "pushing unicycles" and "acting puppets", which are funny in form and reproduce the customs of old Beijing.

Historical works are realistic in form. For example, in Wulin, there are five monkeys, the master is sitting, two monkeys are practicing martial arts, and two monkeys are standing on the sidelines. There is a weapon rack with 18 kinds of weapons on display. Martial arts training scenes are vivid.

Works with modern themes are vivid in fashion. For example, playing table tennis, volleyball and weightlifting.

Satire is thought-provoking. Such as "Confused Official" and "Specialized Treatment of Epilepsy", which are vivid, interesting and intriguing. Bragging is more interesting. Two monkeys each with a tube in their mouth blew on the cow's ass to make the cow swell up and see who blew hard.