Brief introduction of old Beijing hairy monkey

The hairy monkey, which is unique to the traditional folk in old Beijing, is a kind of handicraft with a height of three or four centimeters. It is covered with thick brown or white fluff and slightly transparent. At first glance, I thought it was a specimen of a real hairy monkey. In fact, it is just an exquisite handicraft for people to enjoy. A closer look shows that the hairy monkey is made of cicada shell and magnolia. When it is made, the fluffy magnolia flower is used as the body, and the cicada's head and claws are glued together to create various interesting hairy monkeys. As a folk handicraft, the hairy monkey first appeared in Beijing, which can be traced back to Daoguang period of Qing Dynasty. At that time, there was an artist named Wang in Beijing, known as "Monkey King". He specializes in making hairy monkeys and uses them to simulate people's work and life. His works include "Cart", "Selling candied haws" and "Carrying the burden of shaving" ... the so-called folk "seventy-two lines". He stuck the monkey on a small piece of paper and sold it in Dong 'an Market, Huguo Temple and Longfu Temple. Good quality and low price are deeply loved by children. It has become a traditional children's toy and a folk handicraft appreciated by people in Beijing. As the capital of several dynasties and the gathering place of people of all ethnic groups in various provinces, Beijing is influenced by all directions, and various styles of handicrafts are colorful, such as Shoushan stone, Balin stone, Qingtian stone and other strange stone ornaments, eggs, root carvings, hookahs, teapots, bronzes, vases, etc., all of which are placed on many treasures and become treasures. "hairy monkey" is a kind of folk handicraft, which is made of cicada slough (that is, cicada slough shell) and magnolia flower (that is, hibernating flower and bone flower of magnolia flower) mentioned in traditional Chinese medicine. Although the materials used are simple, the artistic conception of the producer is very clever. Based on the observation of various figures in the society and personal perceptual knowledge, they took the hairy magnolia as the body, intercepted the cicada's * * * and stuck it with its claws, replaced the monkey with things, and replaced people with monkeys, and made various works of art. It is said that the history of "hairy monkeys" in Beijing originated in Daoguang period of Qing Dynasty, mainly simulating people's actions and life scenes, and reflecting the life in the city. Hu Jieqing, the wife of Lao She, once wrote a poem for The Hairy Monkey: "A half-inch monkey offers Kyoto, paints local customs and customs, and paints exquisite and fantastic ideas. Two kinds of pieces of decoction are better than pearls."

In the past, Mao Monkey's works mainly reflected the industry, people's feelings and customs of cooperatives, such as shaving heads, digging dung, pouring water, pushing carts, selling candied haws, divination, etc ... Some of them can form a complete set of artistic works, such as "Tour of County Officials" and "Wedding March". In recent years, the theme of the works has also been innovated, which not only keeps the traditional theme, but also reflects the real life. Monkeys have developed from children's toys to indoor desk furnishings, praised by international friends and become one of the most popular tourist souvenirs.