In the seventies of the eighteenth century, the British invented a new alloy composed of tin, copper, and antimony, called "Britannia metal", which was widely used to make pewter.

After the Middle Ages, pewter products continued to gain popularity, and soon replaced other utensils and entered the homes of ordinary people.

As demand grew, the UK developed a set of standards for assessing pewter grades and issued decrees to trade them.

As a British country, Malaysia has rich tin ore resources in the world, and the British used Malaysia's rich tin resources to meet the huge domestic demand, and Malaysia soon became the world's largest producer of tinware.

Pewter can be widely used and loved by people because of some excellent characteristics of tin itself.

Therefore, the tin ware enjoys the reputation of "holding water and sweet water, holding wine and mellow wine, storing tea flavor unchanged, and arranging flowers for a long time".

In addition to the beautiful metallic color, tin also has good ductility and processing properties, and various utensils and art ornaments made of tin can realistically reflect the creativity of every detail, so as to make the pewter handicrafts lifelike, elegant and moving, these characteristics are unmatched by any other metal handicrafts.

The flat and silky characteristics of pewter, noble and elegant shape, and long-lasting new luster have always been favored by people from all walks of life.

Malaysian pewterware, on the other hand, places great emphasis on unique design and practicality, from traditional wine glasses to noble tea sets, to exquisite photo frames and table decorations.

Each piece of tin products must be carefully used according to strict standards, and then go through many processes such as film-making, carving, grinding, polishing, etc., and each process is handmade by the masters, and the process cost is very high.

A beautifully crafted pewter is not only perfectly patterned and coloured, but it also embodies the charm of Malaysian national culture and art, and today Malaysian pewter is recognised as a high-end gift and a very valuable collector's item.

At the same time, other countries' pewter, such as Thai tinware, has also begun to gradually enter people's field of vision, southern Thailand contains high-quality tin ore resources, following the traditional handmade pewter, its shape and pattern vividly show Thailand's customs and folk culture.

The identification of the shell of old pewter is an important basis for distinguishing ancient pewter and modern pewter. The so-called "leather shell" is a summary of the color, luster and texture of the skin of antiques in the antique industry or the collecting world.

Since tin is not affected in the air at room temperature, if an old tin is in a dry environment for a long time, the appearance will not change much except that the luster is not as strong as that of new tin.

However, it is impossible to completely isolate the damp environment of the old pewter for decades or hundreds of years, and a very thin oxide film will be generated on the damp surface of the tin, which will show different colors such as yellow-brown, purple gray, purple black, silver gray, black brown and so on due to the different metal content in different tin, and mix with the texture and luster of the metal tin to form different skin shells, which becomes an important basis for the identification of tin.

In addition, because tin and lead are similar in some characteristics, ancient people often used the two together, and the content of lead is too high, which can cause damage to the human body.

Cleaning and maintenance of pewter 1) Remember to store white tin in a clean and dry place. 2) Never use a dishwasher or brush to clean white pewter. 3) Avoid white tin contact with flames or in heated areas. When the tin is heated to more than 160 degrees Celsius, its texture will become brittle and the utensils will peel off into powder or saucer, so it is recommended that you do not heat the tin handicrafts to more than 160 degrees Celsius to avoid damage. 4) Do not leave food or beverages in white tin overnight to stain the surface. 5) If you live near the sea, you should clean the white tin more frequently, because a large amount of salt in the air will make it lose its luster. 6) Use warm water to clean, and wipe with a soft dry cloth after cleaning. 7) Wipe with a soft, dry cloth and a good quality silverware finish to make the surface as smooth as new.

As a precious metal second only to gold and silver, pewter has its own unique benefits when used as a tea set, in addition to its collectible value.

The benefits of using porcelain tea sets 1, the only green metal in the natural world, harmless to the human body, and has a good sterilization, purification, moisturizing, and preservation effect; 2. Due to the strong airtightness of tin, it itself has excellent freshness and can maintain the freshness and aroma of tea for a long time, so the ancients loved tin tea sets; 3. Tin ware has the reputation of holding water and sweetness, holding wine and wine, storing tea color unchanged, and arranging flowers for a long time" As early as more than 1,000 years ago, the ancients used tea cans made of tin to store tea leaves, which were exported to Japan and Southeast Asia, so that China's "tea ceremony" and tin tea cans were popular in these countries and have been passed down to this day.

Pure tin is non-toxic, can be used to drink wine and make tea, how to tell whether it is pure tin is very simple, pure tin is very soft, a little drop or touch will have obvious deformation.

If there is a handle or something on it, you can gently break it with your hand to see if it can be easily broken, if you can, it is pure tin, and you can also take a knife and scratch it in an inconsequential place, and if you can easily draw a groove, it is pure tin.

Folk call tin "white wax", so the production of tin is also called "waxing" or "waxing". By the Song Dynasty, pewter ware had become a necessity in the daily life of the common people.

At that time, people used the advantages of tin preservation, antibacterial and excellent sealing, coupled with the advantages of no metal odor to create tin cans to store tea. Think of it as the best storage vessel that will keep your tea fresh for a long time.

With the export of a large number of tea, tin ware and tin craft have been continuously expanded as an important subsidiary handicraft of tea packaging and tea utensils accompanying tea exports.

With the export of a large number of pewterware, there is also a variety of demand around the world, so there is a variety of applications of technology, as well as the prosperity of various products.

It brings together Chinese and Western cultures and produces some such as hollowing, flat carving, relief, and some new decorative techniques, including the application of "fire gold paint" and the application of Chinese "lacquer" caused by the marine climate and demand, which has been gradually perfected in the tin process, and has also formed a large tin craft cultural blend.

Xuanmo is a surface color treatment technology conquered by Banxi Dragon in recent years, which produces a dark blue color on the surface of the tin through complex process treatment, making the tin more simple and elegant, and intriguing.

The Xuanmo process does not add any metals and materials, and the tinware after Xuanmo treatment will not fade and will not cause harm to human health. It is not only a kind of craft, but also a state of mind, material and spirit to face the pale, ingenuity rendering, in order to present the simplicity of pewter, heavy, restrained, calm mystery.

In the Song Dynasty, pewter ware began to be widely used, and pewter ware became a necessity in the daily life of the people, and the making of pewter ware became an important folk handicraft and became a popular item in the market.

Shang Dynasty? The tin blocks unearthed from the archaeological excavation of the Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan Province and the tiger-faced copper helmet coated with a thick tin layer indicate that the special physical properties of tin have been discovered and valued.

Pre-Qin period? The tin industry is more developed and has a special organization to manage it.

Tang dynasty? Archaeological excavations have revealed that the tin used by the Buddhists of the Tang Dynasty in Famen Temple in Shaanxi Province, the gold and silver craftsmanship on it is very exquisite, and it should be a specially made Buddhist article ordered by the emperor.

Song dynasty? Pewter ware began to be widely used in society, and pewter ware became a necessity in people's daily life, and pewter making became an important folk handicraft and a popular trade in the market.

Ming dynasty? Inspired by the purple sand and porcelain production technology, the ornamental is very strong, and the imitation purple sand and imitation porcelain tin ware suitable for playing came into being, and the literati tin ware for the purpose of playing appeared to make the tin ware among the treasures and elegant toys. During this period, there were many famous tin pot makers.

During the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty? Zhu Duan, a native of Suzhou, Jiangsu, is known as "Zhu Jiabi" with a strange shape of tin products.

During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty? Zhao Liangbi, a native of Suzhou, Jiangsu, made tinware, "the source of the heart of the foreign teacher", imitating the purple sand style of Shi Dabin, opening a new generation, and also becoming a tin imitation of purple sand and literati axe, unfortunately his works have not been circulated.

The people of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province returned to the beginning, and after Zhao Liangbi, they pushed the imitation purple sand tin pot to the top; All kinds of tea sets made by Huang (Wang) Yuanji, a native of Jiaxing, Zhejiang, are extremely exquisite.

Ming Zhang Dai said in "Tao'an Dream Memories": "The tin note is based on Wang Yuanji, and the second is Maode... And a jar and a note, the price is five or six gold... It is not ashamed to rank among the Shang Yi and Zhou Ding, and it is also its quality." Huang Shang, a native of Jiaxing, Zhejiang, is good at design, and the utensils are "exemplary".

Qing Dynasty? Literati pewter ware was still favored by the gentry class, and many pewter masters and tin masters with high artistic accomplishments emerged.

During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty? Shen Cunzhou, a native of Jiaxing, Zhejiang, is famous for making tin pots, and Shen Langting is also famous for making tin pots, and the Forbidden City has a peach-style inverted tin pot.

During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty? Wang Dongwen of Suzhou, a native of Wu County (now Suzhou) during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. In the origin of Xi Shi and Qianlong's favorite ancient town of Suzhou, Mudu opened a copper and tin workshop, and was good at making hand stoves, and was a famous tin maker in Suzhou. During the Qianlong period, Suzhou's copper, tin, iron and other craftsmen came to know Wuxi. Among the various production workshops, Wang Dongwen copper tin is the most famous. Since the late Qing Dynasty, the shops imitating Wang Dongwen's copper tin name have never been interrupted in Suzhou, Xichang and even the entire southern Jiangsu region.

During the Daoguang period of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty? Lu Kuisheng, a native of Yangzhou, Jiangsu, combined the tin pot with lacquerware is his creation.

During the Daoguang period of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty? Zhu Shimei, a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang, pioneered the sand tire tin pot, tin for the best, and the work for refinement.

During the Qing Daoguang Xianfeng period? Wang Shancai, Liu Renshan, Zhu Zhenshi and other famous tin makers made pewter are also extremely sophisticated.

The old man was once the world's "tin boss", the lonely mining city itself gave birth to new hope, and the tin craft showed eternal vitality after the decline of the huge metal trade. Lai Qingguo also makes people see the ideal state of a craftsman, in the paradise he personally created, the tin industry and branding, and can also inherit traditional craftsmanship. Craftsmen and entrepreneurs, go hand in hand on his path.

Tin is a sorcerer of metal, always with a mystical color, the ancients used to put tin blocks at the bottom of the well to purify the water, and the best sake in the Japanese court was served in pewter, which is said to be more mellow and clear.

In 1745, after the ship Gothenburg of the Swedish East India Company ran aground and sank, it was salvaged more than 230 years later in 1984, and 370 tons of tea on board sank to the bottom of the sea, and more than 1,000 kilograms of tea were not deteriorated by water due to the tight sealing of tin cans.

More than 100,000 people were once engaged in mining-related work in the old city of Honghe, Yunnan, and the staff dormitories, family buildings, schools, and cinemas in the Beishan mining area are like a mining city.

But in 2008, Gejiu was listed as one of the first resource-exhausted cities in the country, and tens of thousands of workers were laid off.

In a small street less than 50 meters long, there are more than 40 tin handicraft workshops, and they sell on the side, from morning to night, the street is full of bellows, tin foil, and the sound of bargaining - these scenes have long been a legend of the old times.

Against the backdrop of a dwilight setting, Lai Qingguo's Tin Cultural and Creative Industry Park is full of life, with a pewter collection and work exhibition hall, an apprenticeship workshop, an intangible cultural heritage workshop, and a village church.

There is a tea room for tea drinkers, there is a small pavilion for nostalgia, and he even got a whole old train carriage, plus lotus ponds, bamboo forests and a few golden chickens and peacocks, there are strong traces of personal ideals everywhere.

As the only national master of arts and crafts in the tin industry, Lai Qingguo's greatest achievement in recent years is to make tin transition from the decline of the old industrial era to the new form of cultural industry in a small area. The preservation ability of tin is also reflected in its own destiny.

Dressed in Chinese clothes, bald, bearded and a pipe, sitting leaning under a sun-dappled and breezy tree, and a cup of tea on a wooden bench brought from the village, Lai Qingguo's image is as well run and running as well as his business and business.

"It took three years to build this garden and platform, and from this year onwards, we must seriously do the creation, although the social entertainment still needs to occupy some time, but the conditions are much better, I am afraid that I am old, I have not realized this problem, or I am aware of it but I am not qualified to do it. I'm 51 years old, which is quite young in the industry. "The inheritance of a craft and the development of an industry depend on such a new determination and new plan to grow in the hearts of craftsmen and be well adhered to. Lai Qingguo began to learn the art of traditional tinsmiths in his teens, and at the age of 50 he can still have new plans and starts.

In a corner of the workshop, there are two brick stoves, light the fire, put tin blocks in the iron pot, the temperature reaches 231 degrees Celsius, the tin will melt into "tin soup", scoop a scoop and slowly inject into the mold, it can be cooled and formed soon, and then used to beat and temper, the ductility is also excellent, tin is a good-natured metal, shiny and soft.

Tin cans have been recognized as the best utensils for storing tea since ancient times, with good sealing and no peculiar smell, and they are also Lai Qingguo's best-selling products.

Molding the liquid tin through the mold is the first step, to make a "sophisticated" tea canist, there are forty or fifty processes in detail, blanking, molding, welding, polishing, polishing, and some details of the cover are repeated many times, especially the last cover, the tea cover is covered, and it is slowly falling, and then it needs to be slowly pulled out, and only in this way can it have good sealing.

Lai Qingguo picked up a polished tea caddy on the workbench, and held a small electric drill in the other hand.

After graduating from junior high school in his teens, he began to learn pewter craft, followed by a few sixty or seventy-year-old masters, passed on by word of mouth, without any theoretical framework, and would not deliberately cultivate aesthetic quality.

After graduating, I taught for another three years, and I was able to improve my theory before I felt that I could pursue a career in tin art. The advertising company he runs has been the leader in the industry in Yunnan, and has also had the opportunity to enter the official career, and there are many opportunities and choices in life.

For example, painting, "no matter how busy I am, I have to find time to sketch and paint, as a rest, and I don't dare to put things in my skills", Lai Qingguo is usually more like the chairman of an enterprise, handling relationships, managing employees, planning for the future, constantly answering phones and replying to text messages, manual labor is not only one of his work contents, but also his self-spiritual world that temporarily avoids mundane things.

A few strokes of landscape, two small boats, the characters only have clothes slightly blown by the breeze, no need to show any facial features, and the stone texture of the close-up scene must be delicate, and every leaf of the bluegrass next to it is swaying and stretching, and the artistic conception of "Yashi" pursued by the Chinese is expressed in the square inch of the tin can.

Lai Qingguo called it a "simple Chinese painting" on metal, the thickness of the pen is appropriate, the beginning and the turn are one, there are hills and valleys in the heart, and the starting hand is skillful like a physiological reaction, and there is no room for failure.

After 30 years of practice, painting is still a compulsory course, and in the spring, when the pear blossoms bloom on the mountain, he has to rush to paint. Only in this way can we be worthy of the frankness when the words "At the beginning of the first Wu Dynasty, Lai Qingguo system" were engraved.

Lai Qingguo built his own tin culture exhibition hall, from the outside it is a combination of various geometric squares, imitating the crystal structure of tin metal, at first it was not even recognized as "architecture" by "people in the construction industry", and then he dragged a huge train car to put on one side, and on the other side is a church with a red spire, the whole scene has a strange beauty, but the guests from abroad saw it and shouted "miracle".

The exhibition hall can be used as a tin culture and education base, from the collection of various antique pewter, to his current various works and products, as well as some foreign characteristic tin crafts are self-contained.

There is a locked factory in the corner of the garden, which is not a place that ordinary tourists like to visit, but it is really surprising to open it, a room of stone molds, the size of each brick, thousands of neatly arranged all over the house.

In the old days, there was no steel mold for pewter, it was carved with stone patterns and shapes, and then the tin liquid was cast into it, and after cooling, it fell off to be the original blank, and this kind of stone mold was rarely used in modern tin technology, but Lai Qingguo took it back one by one, and did not show off as something to show off. "I don't have any money, but that's my wealth." He said.

In order to find a tin master, Lan Eucalyptus came to the "commercial street" in the old city after several twists and turns, and in an inconspicuous alley, the reporter found the storefront of the successor of "Yan Ji Tin Art".

Chaoyang Yanjia was once the most famous tin family in the Chaoshan region, representing the highest level of Chaoshan pewter craftsmanship. In this store, which is only about 20 square meters, Yan Laiqin, the successor of "Yan Ji Tin Art", still adheres to this craftsmanship passed down from his ancestors and is dedicated to the production of pewter.

"Our ancestors were tinsmithers, and listening to the oral tradition of the elders in the family, I am the 18th generation. Our old house in Chaoyang has witnessed the 'history' of our ancestors coming to make tin for five generations. Speaking of this ancestral craft, Yan Laiqin is very proud.

Yan Laiqin said that his father used to be the technical backbone of the Shantou pewter factory, and after the factory closed down, his father went home to continue making tin products. Because of the exquisite craftsmanship, many customers came to the door to ask my father to make pewter, and my father was too busy to work alone, so he asked his uncles and brothers to help, and in this family workshop, the children naturally became elementary school apprentices to help. This is how Yan Laiqin's craftsmanship was practiced.

In 1978, the spring breeze of reform and opening up blew all over the motherland, and "Yan Ji" also ushered in a good opportunity for vigorous development. At that time, a customer ordered two pieces of pewter as exhibits at "Yan Kee" to bring to the Guangzhou Autumn Fair exhibition, and the unique and practical pewter was immediately favored by overseas merchants, and orders poured in.

At that time, Yan Laiqin, who had already learned and became a teacher, was in full swing almost every day, because it was purely handmade, each product was very time-consuming and laborious, and Yan Laiqin often rushed to catch up with a batch of goods, every morning from ten o'clock to three or four o'clock at night.

"It's the norm now, and we usually have to spend months on each project, and it's a whole day to squat on a small stool. Now he is left with an occupational disease and is sore all over. Yan Laiqin said.

The process of making a piece of tin is very complicated, and each piece is the brainchild of a tin master. According to Yan Laiqin, a good tin ware, need to go through dozens of processes such as tin melting, shearing, shaping, grinding, etc., a tin tea can from the order to the production of finished products, often take more than a month, if it is a large tin barrel, tin pot is more difficult, the longer the production time.

Yan Laiqin made countless pieces of tinware, the largest one has a volume of 50 catties, and the smallest can hold 2 taels of tea. When customers come to order, they only need to verbally explain the size and shape, and Yan Laiqin can make the products that customers want.

Yan Laiqin said that most of the customers who buy tin products are fond of this, in the eyes of these people, a piece of tin is not only a simple vessel, but also a variety of exquisite flower and plant patterns on the tin that people are pleasing to the eye and can't put down, which embodies the charm of traditional Chinese crafts and is a handicraft with ornamental value.

Why are pewter products so popular? One of the important reasons for this is that it has a peculiar effect such as "cooling the body". According to Yan Laiqin, pure tin can insulate heat, moisture, no miscellaneous smell, smooth body, and few flaws.

Lan Eucalyptus picked up a tin can the size of a thermos flask, which seemed lightweight, but it was full of weight and felt heavy. Yan Laiqin took the tin can in Lan Eucalyptus's hand and opened the lid, "A good tin can can feel a suction force when opening the lid, pull it up hard and let go, and the can lid will automatically rebound." And when the lid is closed, it will slowly fall automatically. Look at this can again, it is very flat and silky, and it has a new luster that lasts for a long time. Yan Laiqin said that tin cans are used to store valuable medicinal materials and tea leaves, which can maintain the original flavor and not deteriorate.

Pewter once had a "glorious history", as a traditional handicraft of Chaoshan, and now it is also facing the dilemma of lack of successors.

Yan Laiqin said that tin threshing is not a simple craft, and the process of learning the art is very arduous, and it cannot be learned in three or five years. Yan Ji tin art pays attention to skilled and exquisite craftsmanship, when the apprentice's learning must start from grinding the polishing knife without a sharp edge for the tin master, there is a saying of "three years to learn a knife".

In order to exercise solid basic skills, apprentices often squat for hours at a time, extremely grinding patience and will. In addition to being willing to work hard, scholars also need to have talent, Yan Laiqin laughed and said that he is "with his own genes", and he can learn it relatively quickly, which is unattainable.

According to Yan Laiqin, each piece of Yan's pewter ware has gone through strict materials, and then through melting, casting, modeling, scraping, polishing, engraving and other processes, each process is purely handmade, the process cost is very high, but this also limits the output, which leads to the sales volume is difficult to guarantee, many scholars are not very willing to engage in this industry considering this factor.

Speaking of inheritance, Yan Laiqin still has some regrets, but he also revealed to reporters that his son has realized the sense of mission of this traditional craft, and is now slowly taking over, inheriting his father's business and passing on the tin art.