The reason for saving "Jiangzhou Brush"

Because the Millennium pen-making technology is facing extinction.

The "Jiangzhou Brush" circulating in Xinjiang County is one of the traditional famous pens in China. It came into being in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period and has been passed down for more than two thousand years. However, in today's Xinjiang county, there are very few people who know how to make "crimson pens", and the ancient pen-making technology is in danger of being lost, which is worrying.

According to unofficial history's records, the writing brush was invented by Meng Tian, the general of Qin State. He led troops to defend the border and passed through Jiangzhou (now Xinjiang County) to spread the skill of writing brush to local artists. Since then, it has been handed down from generation to generation in Jiangzhou for two thousand years and has developed to this day. Jiangzhou brush is often a tribute to the imperial court in the past dynasties, and it is as famous as Huzhou brush in the south, and is known as "South Lake and Northern Crimson". Even in the 1960s and 1970s, Xinjiang County sold 300,000 to 400,000 brushes at home and abroad every year. Now, with the shrinking brush market and the impact of mechanical pens, only a few pen-making workshops here stick to this traditional craft and are always facing the test of survival.

The 78-year-old Yu is the third generation descendant of Jundetang Pen Workshop in Xinjiang County. He has been learning to make pens since he was a child. Although the old man is old, he still works tirelessly.

Yu said that Jiangzhou brush is hand-made, with moderate hardness, strong water absorption and durability. However, the manufacturing process of crimson brush is also quite complicated, which requires 86 processes, such as picking, discharging, combing and welding pen. It usually takes 20 days to make a batch of finished brushes, and the quantity is less than 100.

"Now people mostly write with pens or type with computers, and fewer and fewer people use brushes. The characteristics of Zhangzhou brush have just become the biggest obstacle to its inheritance. " Yu said, "Compared with the mechanical pens in the factory, the small workshop-style hand-made pens are inefficient, which makes the sales of the already poor brushes worse; In addition, the pen-making process is complicated and difficult to learn, which makes it difficult for apprentices to accept disciples and lack successors. "

Yu Yongjie, 24, is Yu's own grandson and the only descendant. According to Yu Yongjie, under the guidance of his grandfather, it took him more than six years to learn all the processes. "The pen is dirty and tired. Now I earn less than 1000 yuan a month from writing pens. I don't know how long I can last. " Yu Yongjie said helplessly.

It is reported that "the skill of making crimson pen" has been included in the second batch of intangible cultural heritage projects in Shanxi Province, hoping to drive more young people to devote themselves to the inheritance of this skill and prevent this Millennium pen-making skill from being lost.