Old craftsmen have their own pride, at that time Taiping Town, there were more than a dozen blacksmith shops of all sizes, every day before dawn, the town sounded a sound of iron. When it comes to market day, the streets that are not too wide are always filled with all kinds of knives and farm tools.

How to gain a foothold in the "knife ke" rivers and lakes? Zhou Guangxing felt that what he was fighting for was quality, and Ye Xiuhua, who was in charge of setting up the stall, had the confidence to shout in the bazaar, "Zhou's knife is repaired, if there is a gap, no money will be charged", and later called out "one steel, two fires and three craftsmen".

"Absolutely good steel, the most suitable fire, and a knife fighter with heart." Ye Xiuhua remembered that every morning at 6 o'clock when she arrived at the place to catch up, there was a long queue in front of the stall, and the villagers were waiting to buy Zhoujia knives.

Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and a pool of spring water stirred up by the Zhou family knife is by no means only in Taiping Town. In 2011, on Chengdu People's Middle Road, Chu Hua, the boss of "Chujia Knife", offered a reward to PK with kitchen knives from all walks of life, setting off a legend in Chengdu's "kitchen knife world".

After Zhou Guangxing found out, he directly questioned the Chu family knife for "cheating", and shouted through the apprentice on the Internet to compete with the Chu family knife.

"In the end, it's not comparable, the Chu family knife doesn't accept it." Recalling this paragraph, Zhou Guangxing still felt a little regretful, "It should really be compared, there is no jealousy among peers, and they learn from each other." ”

Although this duel of "swordsmen" has aroused a lot of attention, it has not been able to stop the decline of iron-striking skills. Since 2000, blacksmiths in Taiping Town have gradually closed their doors and changed careers, and the number of blacksmith shops in Chengdu has been slowly decreasing.

Zhou Guangxing was also a little anxious, because there were fewer and fewer apprentices.

Pick up a rooster and worship a master, when Zhou Guangxing has the most apprentices, there are more than ten. Those who couldn't stand the suffering left, and those who felt that they had no future also left, and in the end dozens of them came and went, and only 5 apprentices remained with them for a long time.

This year's 42-year-old Wen Deyong has followed Zhou Guangxing to play iron for 22 years, from a stunned young head to a father of a family, he clearly remembers that he only apprenticed to the senior brother Song Laosi for one day, and as a result, he became the second senior brother for a lifetime.

For more than ten years, these brothers and masters have been busy in the blacksmith almost every day, from four or five o'clock in the morning to seven or eight o'clock in the evening. Because they don't like to talk, many times, except for the sound of clanging iron, only a silence remains.

"The master will scold us, especially if we don't do it well." Although the age difference is not much, Wen Deyong has always been in awe of Zhou Guangxing. This blacksmith, who has not read much books, always remembers that Zhou Guangxing once entrusted other shops to help make a batch of knives, but even if he personally guarded the completion, the final effect was still not good.

"There are more than 100 knives, and there are some production problems." After a pause, Wen Deyong sighed, "The master is so angry that his heart hurts, but he must not sell defective products, and in the end he bears the loss himself." ”

In 2013, Zhou Guangxing researched 5 chrome steel kitchen knives, in addition to reducing the functional partition of cutting vegetables in front of the kitchen knife and slaughtering bones in the back, it also ensured a longer service life, but because of the higher price than the market, the sales were bleak, and more than 4,000 were not sold.

"Always believe that difficulties are temporary." Zhou Guangxing's idea is very simple, he will sell slowly if he can't sell it for a while, and he is not afraid that there will be no market for good things.

Gradually, Zhou Jiadao walked out of Taiping Town. After buying a knife, a customer replaced all the knives at home with those produced by the Zhou family, and a tourist from New Zealand, who came with drawings and commissioned Zhou Guangxing to make the same knife, and returned with pleasure.

Last year, Zhoujia knives sold nearly 80,000 online and offline. Zhou Guangxing was very happy, he couldn't help but think that those various knives with his name printed on them entered thousands of households and participated in the trivial and warm daily life of every household.

Around 2007, Zhou Guangxing's son Zhou Hao accidentally discovered that some old knives at home would have cloud-like patterns after being polished, which was very good-looking. Zhou Ting, an old man in the family, concluded that this was an ancient craft, "We want to make it." ”

After many checks, Zhou Guangxing and his son found that this is a mille-feuille steel that needs to be forged repeatedly, which is called Damascus steel in foreign countries.

"How do you reproduce these patterns? It starts with repeated forging. Zhou Guangxing began to try, and at the beginning there were indeed lines, but they were all straight, so he re-screened the material and changed the landing point, strength and folding method of the hammer little by little. Every time he made a new discovery, Zhou Guangxing made a mark on the wall.

In 2015, they finally mastered this traditional technique. Efforts to apply for intangible cultural heritage have also been ongoing. This year, their persistence has paid off. At present, the work of including Zhoujiadao in the list of district-level intangible cultural heritage of Tianfu New Area has been basically completed.

Nowadays, the people in the town laugh and call Zhou Guangxing the "Sword King" of Taiping Town, Zhou Guangxing smiled, "It's a blacksmith." ”

The knives are cold, but the hearts are warm.

Zhou Guangxing cherishes his craft, he remembers, an old man in his 80s in Baihe Town, holding the hand of his son and daughter-in-law, pointed to Zhou's knife and said, "Their knife is good, even if I am gone, you must buy their knife." ”

Many children in the town grew up eating vegetables cut with the Zhou family's knife, and those figures who bounced past the shop eventually grew up and then left to go to the wider world.

There is also the blind man in the next town, more than 30 years ago, the Zhou family gave him a knife to sharpen bamboo chips, but he was left to support himself and is grateful to this day. "Hitting the knife is my breath, and I will fight until I can't fight anymore."

Today, Zhou Guangxing occasionally visits the former ironwork factory, just to seize even a glimmer of hope to prolong the life of the craft of ironmaking.

"Tip of the Tongue 3" pushed "Zhangqiu Iron Pot" to the focus of public opinion in the whirlpool of Internet germination. The blacksmith who forged the Zhangqiu iron pot, this once familiar and brilliant profession was once again exposed to the public.

Zhangqiu, a place famous throughout the country in the last century because half of the population made iron, created a large and ancient group of "Zhangqiu blacksmiths". With the rapid development of the machinery manufacturing industry, the sound of striking iron has gradually disappeared in people's lives. Nowadays, taking advantage of the spring breeze of "Zhangqiu Iron Pot", the legend of the old blacksmith represented by Niu Qisheng, Liu Tingli, Zhao Lianxiang, etc., slowly emerges in front of our eyes......

At the age of 14, he began to learn to strike iron, and the hammer in Lao Niu's hand has been used for almost 60 years, and he still hasn't put it down.

Half of Zhangqiu's half a century ago he made a living by striking iron

"My father is an ironworker, my grandfather is an ironworker, my grandfather is an ironworker, and my grandfather is still an ......ironworker," said 72-year-old Niu Qisheng on March 2 in a farmhouse courtyard in Hezhuang Village, Xianggongzhuang Town, Zhangqiu District, "Until I am the fifth generation, they are all ironworkers." His voice was louder than that of the average old man, and his face was flushed red. He counted the history of his own ironwork, which was also the life of many blacksmiths like him.

It is the Lantern Festival, and there is an endless stream of people visiting Lao Niu's house. The "Zhangqiu Iron Pot", which is popular all over the country because of "A Bite of China 3", has been on the hot search, and Lao Niu, as the inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of "Zhangqiu Blacksmith Customs", has naturally become the object of the stars.

The door of Lao Niu's house is not easy to climb, the door platform is more than two meters high, and visitors have to climb up to knock on the narrow door of Lao Niu's house. "Taiwan recruits distant guests, and the door is a small nobleman", on the door, the couplet just pasted for the New Year is bright red.

Lao Niu is a person who loves to ponder and innovate, and this pair of doors can be seen in one or two. When it comes to couplets, in the last century, almost every house in Zhangqiu posted "the wind blows a fire, and the iron hits the Quartet", which is enough to see the prevalence of iron.

"Here come to the iron, hoe, pickle, kitchen knife, steel kitchen knife, iron rake three-tooth two-tooth hook...... "At the age of 14, the old cow followed his father to learn to strike iron, and the loud shouting was practiced from that time, "At that time, the sparks splashed on the arms and hands, and the meat was scalded out of the pit and covered with marks." ”

The blacksmith does heavy work all his life, especially in the summer, and he has to work hard all day in front of the fire, "There is no way, what to eat without craftsmanship." ”

Like Lao Niu, 70-year-old Liu Tingli learned to strike iron from his parents in his early 20s. But due to the lack of manpower, Liu Tingli never walked the streets and alleys to make iron, but made it at home and then took it out to sell. Relying on the livelihood of iron, Liu Tingli supported two sons and a daughter, "Two college students, one high school student, in that era, fortunately there was this craft." ”

Lao Niu and Liu Tingli are just two of the teenagers in Zhangqiu who embarked on the road of "striking iron". Iron striking does not require advanced knowledge, second, does not require superb technology, and third, the red furnace occupies very little manpower. Therefore, in the territory of Zhangqiu in the 50s of the last century, out of a population of 730,000, about 380,000 people supported their families by striking iron. At that time, boys were generally thirteen or fourteen years old, and they were sent to be apprentices to strike iron.

There are generally two kinds of iron, one is called "beating furnace", the other is called "beating furnace", and "beating furnace" is also called beating iron. After the blacksmith entered the village, he first chose a relatively spacious and conspicuous location in the village. The household belongings of the iron-struck were removed, the wooden piers were placed, the anvils were installed, one man fetched water and mud, and the other made a fire in the furnace.

Packing up, the blacksmith shop opened. The master of the pliers took a small hammer and struck it on the anvil a few times, and someone came with a hoe and sickle to be picked. The master is in charge of the pliers, which is a technical work, putting the iron parts that need to be forged into the red furnace or taking them out from it, and placing them on the anvil to direct the apprentice to forge.

"The master's small hammer is the baton, and the apprentice will use the sledgehammer to hit wherever it is pointed." At the age of 29, the skilled old cow became a master who led people to strike iron. In the early 80s of the last century, this craft really became the livelihood of the old cows.

In the early days of reform and opening up, China's rural areas were full of hot labor scenes, and agricultural tools had not yet been produced on a large scale. After the beginning of spring, before the wheat harvest, before the autumn harvest, and after the winter, the blacksmith who smelled the business opportunity pushed the wheelbarrow and carried the iron-striking guys, walking the streets and alleys, forging hoes, sickles, and shovels for the villagers.

"At that time, the business was very good, and everywhere I went, I was surrounded by a group of people." Lao Niu said happily. Lao Niu, who loves innovation, also researched and made honeycomb coal molds, which were sold to the north and south of the country.

"Striking iron", this is the positioning that Lao Niu gave himself. And among the people, people call the "blacksmith" the blacksmith. One of the meanings of "craftsman" in the dictionary is "a person with craftsmanship", which is an honorific title for the group of "ironworkers". And Zhangqiu blacksmith, a title with a geographical indication, contains a kind of pride.

This pride is emboldened. "Shandong began to use iron farming tools in the early Spring and Autumn period. During the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there were 48 iron officials in the country, and there was Dongping Tomb in Zhangqiu County. "Shandong Tongzhi" records that Zhangqiu smelted the mountain, and the Tang Dynasty smelted iron here. ”

Chen Jingbo, deputy director of the Zhangqiu District Cultural Center, quoted archaeological data, which shows that Zhangqiu blacksmiths began in the Spring and Autumn Period, flourished in the Western Han Dynasty and flourished in the Tang Dynasty, and lasted for more than 2,700 years.

Zhangqiu has had "three more" since ancient times: there are many blacksmiths, many businessmen, and many traditional Chinese medicine shops. With Dongpingling as the center, there are abundant mineral resources such as iron ore, limestone, refractory soil, and coal within a radius of 100 miles in Zhangqiu, which provides the prerequisite for the development of the iron smelting industry, and thus gives birth to a large number of blacksmiths.

"One person is on fire, and the whole family is iron; Passed down from generation to generation, children and grandchildren continue to be inherited" has become a true portrayal of Zhangqiu blacksmiths.

The life of a blacksmith is not something that ordinary people can hold. The "three major difficulties" of a blacksmith's life. It's hard to wear new clothes. As soon as the hammer point fell, the sparks shot in all directions, and the clothes were full of holes; The second is that "it is difficult to shave the head and clean the face", the smoke and fire are burning all year round, and the iron dust is hitting the face, "the master of the barber does not like to shave the head of the blacksmith, for fear of shaving his own knife"; Third, it is difficult to marry a wife on a blind date. The blacksmith not only looks dark, but also earns very little money. Most of them wait until they are in their thirties and forty years before they get married and start a family.

In the definition of "craftsman", in addition to the meaning of "a person with craftsmanship", there is also a layer of meaning "with a certain aspect of skilled skills, but mediocre and sluggish, lacking uniqueness".

Lao Niu doesn't think of himself as "mediocre and sluggish", he is a person who loves to ponder. He still remembers the first time he took his improved farming tools to the market and sold them.

"At that time, there were many blacksmiths selling farm tools there, and when I took out the lazy hoes, pickaxes, and sickles I designed, they laughed at me!" The reason why his peers ridiculed Niu Qisheng came from his special farm tools: "It's different from traditional farm tools, everyone has never seen it, and they think it's strange."

In the face of ridicule, the old cow only said, "You can use it to try." As a result, "I used my lazy hoe, and the lazy man also fell in love with hoeing", the lazy hoe played by the old cow was sharp and light, and he could hoe two acres of land in the morning. In this way, the farm tools that Lao Niu beat were sold out of stock every time.

By 2000, however, that had changed. As usual, the old cow lit a fire in the stove and went out to strike iron, but few people cared about it. In fact, the army of blacksmiths in the village has quietly changed.

Chajiuzhuang Gao Piyue took the lead in setting up a tractor parts factory; Meng Chuanxiang of Beitao Village set up a chemical machinery parts factory; Jiaojiazhuang Gao Hongsheng established an agricultural machinery parts processing factory; Hetao Village formed a steel splitting and dismantling processing team; Yuanzhuang gave birth to a tractor parts forging factory......

On the one hand, factory production has allowed the villagers to use machine-made agricultural tools. On the other hand, the handicraft of iron-striking is more complicated, and the price of selling is low, so many family blacksmiths cannot survive.

In the 80s of the 20th century, Zhangqiu Farm Tools Factory No. 1 was rebuilt into Zhangqiu Electric Machinery Factory, Zhangqiu Farm Tools Factory No. 2 was expanded into Zhangqiu Blower Factory, Farm Tools Factory No. 3 was formed into Zhangqiu Leather Production and Processing Factory, and Farm Tools Factory No. 4 was expanded into a heavy auto parts factory...... There are more than 60 county-level enterprises.

There are also many village-run enterprises near Hezhuang Village, where Lao Niu's family lives, and a forging factory of Sinotruk is also nearby. Many of the descendants of blacksmiths in the village have entered the factory to work, started the machine and became workers, and the only remaining family blacksmith workshop in the village is Lao Niu's family.

In Sunjia Village, Zhangqiu Puji Town, there is a blacksmith shop with one person, and the owner is called Zhao Lianxiang. Like Niu Qisheng, Zhao Lianxiang began to learn to strike iron from his grandfather and father at the age of 16, and now he is almost 80 years old, and he has been fighting for 60 years.

He is good at all kinds of iron tools such as sickles, axes, kitchen knives, hoes, and rakes. Every piece of iron from his hand is branded with the word "Zhao" as a symbol by him, which is a kind of confidence and pride in his craft. However, we all know that striking iron is a chore, and the high temperature of the furnace, the splashing sparks, and the heavy hammer test the perseverance of the ironman everywhere.

Zhao Lianxiang fell into an "occupational disease" because of iron, and now he is old, but he is still reluctant to put down the hammer, because he is afraid that the hammer that has accompanied him all his life will never be picked up again.

Niu Qisheng is undoubtedly lucky, although his eldest son Niu Zhonghua and second son Niu Dawei both went to work in the forge, but in the end they both returned home and struck iron with him, which gave him a lifelong craft to have an inheritor, "What is a blacksmith?" Pots and pans, hoes and sickles, you can hit whatever you want, this is called a blacksmith.

If you drive a machine to make parts, you are not called a blacksmith, at most you are a blacksmith. Lao Niu persuaded his son to stay at home and concentrate on studying the art of iron-making.