Zhongshan Road, Shilong, Dongguan is a century-old brand with non-genetic protection.

Shilong Zhongshan Road is a century-old brand protected by non-genetic inheritance.

After the Spring Festival, the annual flavor of Zhongshan Road faded, and the characteristic arcades on both sides gradually restored the tranquility of the past. The well-preserved but slightly vicissitudes old building vaguely reveals its long history. This old street is only a short distance of more than a thousand meters, but it hides four provincial and municipal intangible cultural heritages (referred to as "intangible heritage"). As if reaching out and pushing open that door, you can return to the prosperity of a hundred years ago.

Text: Wan Peishan, Zhang Xiaomin Photography: Wan Peishan

Drum making

Three generations of inheritance, guarding the finger cause

In Xinchang Drum Shop, a touch of sunshine is sprinkled on the bluestone floor, and the wooden signboard depicts several ancient red characters of "Xinchang Old Shop", plus various round drums on both sides. The whole house reveals traces of time. However, if you want to move a small piece of bluestone here, you should also apply to the relevant departments of Shilong.

The total length of Zhongshan Road is 1.4 km, and Xinchang Drum Shop is located in the middle section of Zhongshan Road. Seen from a distance, this shop is inconspicuous. There are no eye-catching signs on the door, but there are many "not simple" in the small drum shop.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Shilong Drum Shop was very famous in Dongguan. At that time, there were four shops on Zhongshan Road, namely Jichang, Xinchang, Jinchang and Xinxiang. However, Shilong drum shops headed by four drum shops closed down one after another, and there were almost no drum shops in Shilong.

After the reform and opening up, Xinchang and Jinchang reopened, and Ye Renhe studied drumming skills with his father-in-law in Jinchang from 65438 to 0983. After 1990s, because relatives of Xinchang Drum Shop immigrated, they decided to merge the two drum shops. Xinchang drum shop, with the oldest brand name, is still in use today, and it is also the only hand-made drum shop in Dongguan.

Xinchang drum has been passed down for three generations, and now it has a history of 130 years, but it is not smooth sailing from the second generation to the third generation. Ye Renhe, who originally worked in Shilong Port Authority, did not intend to make drums. Because he is in love with the daughter of Yao Guang, the owner of the drum shop, Ye Renhe often takes the initiative to go to the drum shop to help during breaks and holidays. Traditional craftsmen can only pass on their own skills, that is, only to those who are related by blood. Gradually, Yao Guang felt that Ye Renhe was studious and liked this future son-in-law, so he decided to teach him his unique skills. Ye Renhe spent two years mastering the skills that others need to learn for several years. Later, my father-in-law in his seventies said that he had been a drummer all his life, and now there is nothing he can do. He hoped that Xinchang Drum Shop would pass it on to his son-in-law, and Ye Renhe thought about it for a while before agreeing to come down.

Known far and near, the production process is exquisite.

When you walk into Xinchang Drum Shop, you will always be surrounded by drums of all sizes. No matter whether it is a big drum or a small drum, every process has a lot of attention, and the production of each kind of drum requires a lot of effort. First of all, we should choose the right wood to make drums. If the sacrificial drum is dominated by Abies dongjiang, the wood is hard and Abies Xijiang is slightly soft. The drum of the local dragon boat drum is made of several fir boards. Finally, the drum tube is fixed with bamboo strips, and then the drum bag is installed, which can play an echo role, and the sound made by the drum when rolling is more crisp and beautiful.

In addition to drums, it is also necessary to make a good drum skin, which is the most difficult process, and it will tear the cowhide if you are not careful. After the fresh cowhide is brought back, it must go through many links such as depilation, oil scraping, thinning, cutting and air drying. It often takes one or two years from fresh cowhide to drum skin. All the hair on the surface of cowhide should be scraped off. If it is a place with thick skin such as calves, it needs to be mined many times. Cow and bull cowhide are also different in thickness. Cowhide will be difficult to process after it is air-dried and hardened.

Whenever a guest comes to Xinchang Drum Shop to make a custom drum, Ye Renhe will ask the guest for the purpose first, and then choose the material of the drum according to the purpose. The drum skin produced in different parts of the same cowhide will have different quality, and the sound effect will be different, such as the skin of the buttocks, and the sound will be dull. The sound of lion drum and dragon boat drum is flexible and vivid, and it needs to be made of large area of fresh cowhide. A good drum can make a lot of noise without much effort, because the quality of a drum has a lot to do with its material and structure. The last step of drum making is coloring, then painting the shop number "Xinchang Drum" and hanging the hook, and a complete Xinchang drum is completed.

At the end of each year, a few months before the Dragon Boat Festival, Xinchang Drum Shop is the busiest time. Because there is only one drummer in the shop, Ye Renhe often gets up before dawn to work. Although he is a shopkeeper, Ye Renhe never gets up half a minute late all year round. It is common for him to work overtime. If you have seen Zhongshan Road at four o'clock in the morning, you must have heard the drumming of Xinchang Drum Shop.

Xinchang drum has a long reputation for its exquisite craftsmanship. Not only people from Guangzhou, Boluo and Shenzhen will buy them, but also many Hong Kong customers will wholesale temple drums, small hall drums, lamps and drums in Xinchang Drum Shop. Xinchang drum has attracted many overseas Chinese from Southeast Asia and North America since it became famous in Hong Kong. Xinchang drum is popular all over the country. Brands are fraudulently used from time to time. In order to let the guests correctly identify, each drum made by Xinchang Drum Shop will be engraved with the words "Xinchang Made", with a unique logo and contact number to prevent others from counterfeiting. Insiders pointed out that only well-known and high-quality drum shops will have the courage to put their own logo on their products. "Just like people who wear exposed brand-name clothes now, they will only wear famous brands and will not wear miscellaneous brands."

Centennial drum shop, facing the problem of inheritance

When interviewed in Xinchang Drum Shop, although it is not the traditional peak season, people often come to the drum shop to order drums and take them, which coincides with the Lantern Festival. Some towns and streets should bring some new drums to "bring up the rear" during the Lantern Festival. However, in recent years, the business of drum shops is not very good. In the 1990s, Dongguan's economy began to take off, and local people began to have some money. Festivals and happy events need more scenes, so there is a great demand for drums and the local market is quite ideal. "At the price at that time, a 10 inch roller could sell for more than 200 yuan, and now it can't be sold in 200 yuan." In recent years, Xinchang drum shop has also made some products that combine the trend of the times, such as Xinchang drum keychain, which sells well. But because it is handmade, the key chain needs to be very small. The smaller it is, the harder it is to make, and it is difficult to mass-produce.

What is more worrying than whether there is business is the inheritance of Xinchang drum. In 20 10, Ye Renhe was named as the representative inheritor of the first batch of intangible cultural heritage projects in Dongguan, but the inheritor of Xinchang drum-noodle skills died of illness in 20 17 and 1 0. My younger brother, Ye Haohe, took over the business of Xinchang Drum Shop, and also took on the important task of inheriting Xinchang drum production skills. Ye Haohe has been playing drums in a drum shop for more than 20 years, and now he is over 50 years old. Xinchang drum shop has a whiteboard. Although it's only February, the drum orders for the Dragon Boat Festival have been lined up on the whiteboard. To solve these numerous orders, only Ye Hao and one person are needed.

In a few years, Ye Haohe will also reach retirement age. What are his plans for the future? Ye Haohe said: "I don't know, and I have no plans." The two daughters of Ye Renhe, the inheritor, are unwilling to learn to play drums, because playing drums can't make much money and it is very hard. Ye Renhe also said that you can't force your daughter to learn. During the interview, Ye Haohe's son was helping in the shop. When we thought he was studying drum skills, Ye Haohe said that his son was studying medicine in An now, but he came to help during the winter vacation. He has never really learned the drum set, and probably won't do so in the future. When we asked Ye Hao and his son if they were interested in making drums, he replied in a low voice: Not really. Ye Haohe often told his son that we should have a sense of responsibility to inherit this matter, but at the same time we also have things we want to do.

Xing Lin Shi qi making

The century-old lion dance shop has been handed down for four generations.

Turn a corner from Zhongshan Road to Taiping Street, and you will soon see a crowded shop. There are red buckets of different sizes piled at the door of the shop, and people who come in can always feel a little festive. On the right side of the door is a huge gong, and a mighty lion's head hangs high from the ceiling. The bright colors make the shop look smart. This is the century-old store-Dehexing Lion Dance Kirin Store. Guo Runtang is the inheritor of the lion's head production skills and a provincial intangible cultural heritage project in Guangdong Province. For 40 years, he and the lion head "get along" day and night, inseparable. Guo Runtang introduced that Dehexing Lion Dance Kirin Store was founded by his great-grandfather, which started in the late Qing Dynasty and has a history of more than 100 years. After four generations of inheritance, this store has gradually developed from a small family workshop to a comprehensive store, including making lion dance heads, unicorn heads, dragon boat drums, gongs and drums, etc.

Because of its long history and high quality, the lion head made by Dehexing Lion Dance Kirin Store is not only patronized by Dongguan locals, but also bought by many people in Huizhou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and has been exported to Britain, Singapore and other places. Recently, the lion-awakening culture has a trend of "going north". Guo Runtang said: "Years ago, many people from Sichuan and Hunan bought lion heads and brought them back to their hometown, as well as customized lion heads in Xinjiang." But behind the glory is invisible hardship. Guo Runtang's father died in his 50s, and his family thought it was related to the lion's head. At the end of that year, there were many orders. "I often work overtime, seldom sleep and work hard every day. Under a series of actions, my body suddenly collapsed. " Guo Yi, Guo Runtang's sister, said.

The area of Dehexing Lion Dance Kirin Store is not large, but the sparrow is small and complete. The first floor is a storefront, and dozens of lion heads and unicorn heads, large and small, hang in the air around, giving people a refreshing feeling. There are also various styles of gongs and drums stacked on both sides, which are intertwined with tradition and modernity, dazzling and shining. People walk in shops, but stay at the center of celebration. There are three independent spaces on the second and third floors to undertake various processes of making lion's head.

Operate with conscience and rely on your own merits.

"Operating with conscience and standing on strength" has always been Desheng's belief, and behind every seemingly simple but difficult production process, countless people's sweat and wisdom are condensed.

Guo Runtang introduced that there are six main processes to make the lion's head: the first step is to tie the outline, also called the frame, that is, to tie the bamboo stick into the outline of the lion's head with sandpaper; Step 2: Sticker: Stick gauze paper on the outline of the lion's head and stick it repeatedly. It needs to be pasted layer by layer until the whole lion head prototype appears, which is very patient. Step 3, dry, that is, dry the lion's head with gauze paper, but don't expose it to the sun; The fourth step, decal, also called color writing, is to throw paper and decal on the dry outline, and draw the whole lion's head, eyes, nose and so on with various sequins, colored paper and hand-painting; Step five, painting; Step 6, paste decorations, such as the eyebrows, mouth, nose and tongue of the lion's head; Finally put on the lion's back. In these steps, the most important thing is to tie the frame and tie the outline of a lion's head with a bamboo stick. Guo Runtang introduced that it is difficult to build a skeleton, not only strong, but also beautiful. Therefore, to choose bamboo with particularly good softness, this step is usually done by himself.

There is a coloring workshop on the second floor of the shop, which looks like colorful dyeing paint.

Guo Runtang introduced that the pattern of lion's head is not painted at will, and each color and pattern has a profound local culture. Each different pattern can give the lion a different personality and connotation, and make the lion's head "personalized". The red knife pattern represents Guan Yu's loyalty, the yellow sword pattern represents Liu Bei's benevolence and righteousness, and the black spear pattern represents Zhang Fei's bravery. Various images of benevolence, loyalty and courage can be expressed through different colors and ornamentation. Finally, in order to show the greatness of the Southern Lion, it is necessary to decorate the lion's eyes, ears, nose and mouth with satin cloth and colorful fluff, and install a mirror in the middle of the lion's forehead.

Try to innovate, you must pass it on.

In recent years, the lion head production market began to decline, and Dehexing Xingshi Qilin Store basically operated at a low profit. Dehe Xingxingshi Qilin Store has also tried to link to the Internet and bring its products to more places. However, on the one hand, the quality on the Internet is poor and the price is low. On the other hand, there is no young fresh blood injected into Dehe Xingxingshi Qilin Store, which makes its upgrading road full of thorns. "I type very slowly, only 30 words a minute. It is ok to face the computer occasionally, but it is difficult to face it for a long time. " Guo Yi, 50, said that she is the youngest of several brothers and sisters who jointly run Dehexing Lion-Awakening Qilin Store.

In Liang Jinquan's workshop, there is a strong smell of paint, and large and small paint buckets are piled on the ground. "Our working environment is poor and harmful to our health, so it is difficult for me to get fat." Liang Jinquan said helplessly. Low income and hard work often make many young people interested in traditional clogs only have a "three-minute fever". "They came to have a look and thought it was too difficult. They won't learn for a few days at most. Whether it can be passed down or not, as long as I can do it, I will continue to do it. "

A pair of good clogs can bring infinite happiness. At the important moment of life, it records the turning point of fate and carries the expectation of the future and the joys and sorrows of life.

Dehexing lion dance shop, Xinchang Drum Tower and Shilong red lacquer traditional clogs on Zhongshan Road, although belonging to different industries, all have similar experiences-once brilliant, heading for decline. The sharp contraction of market demand and the rise of similar substitutes are the biggest difficulties they are facing at present. For the future, they are more like "walking", which seems to be a choice, but more like the only choice. Dehexing lion dance shop benefits from a huge family and is optimistic about the inheritance of craftsmanship. Xinchang drum shop and Shilong red lacquer traditional clogs are relatively pessimistic.

On the street of Zhongshan Road, we interviewed passers-by of different ages. Most of the older generation have heard a little about these local heritages, some of which can be regarded as treasures. But only a few people in the younger generation have heard of it, but they know nothing about its characteristics and culture. In order to preserve this traditional culture, Liang Jinquan, Guo Runtang and Ye Renhe often go to various classes and frequently appear in major non-legacy activities to teach students how to draw clogs, how to play drums and what is the meaning behind the lion's head. These non-genetic inheritors are still making handmade products day after day and year after year. During the Chinese New Year holiday, the lion wakes up and picks green flowers, and there are clogs and drums everywhere, which is accompanied by the growth of Dongguan people from generation to generation.