Take a deep breath and let the air flow out of the thin iron tube. The spurted air passed through the flame of the oil lamp, blowing the bean-sized flame into a tongue of fire. It lasted four or five minutes, and after a hundred breaths, the ring finally turned from silver to red.

Seeing that the ring had turned red, the silversmith didn't care that the ring was hot, picked up the tweezers, picked up the tiny silver flowers on the table, and dipped them on the ring, and then put them in front of the oil lamp and began a new round of blowing.

Between another hundred breaths, the silver flower and the ring were firmly welded to each other. After scrubbing and polishing, a small silver ring is over.

Customizing a complete set of Miao silver dowry is about a dozen catties of Miao silver, a set of silver wedding clothes exclusive to oneself including head hats, bracelets, collars, anklets, etc., making a small ring is still so complicated, such a complete set of Miao silver jewelry, even if an old silversmith like Wu Shuigen makes it every day, it will take nearly 40 days.

365 days a year, except for the busy agricultural seasons such as spring sowing and autumn harvest, full of calculations and overtime work, can only play 8 sets, net income of 60,000 or 70,000 yuan - the pay and harvest are far from proportional.

Miao silversmiths are divided into two types: mobile silversmiths and fixed-point silversmiths, Wu Shuigen belongs to fixed-point silversmiths, and undertakes the processing of silver jewelry at home. This used to be the most respected profession in Miao Village. Wu Shuigen only knew when he became a silversmith that this errand was complicated and tiring, and he couldn't make any money.

The development of the times, the development of science and technology, so that the traditional handicraft is indeed facing the danger of being lost, more than 20 years, although the peer is getting fewer and fewer, but many old silversmiths still because they like and stick to it.

"The whole town lives in a new building, but I still live in the wooden house I built when I got married!" Wu Shuigen laughed at himself. The reduction in orders led to the loss of a large number of silversmiths, and many of Wu Shuigen's many apprentices did not touch silver.

However, Wu Shuigen still insisted on making silver jewelry, "sealing the furnace when the farm is busy, and handling the hammer when the farm is slack". Although he is already a national master craftsman of Miao Yin, the silver jewelry he makes is still sold at a similar price to the silver jewelry in the market. Wu Shuigen is very satisfied with the current life, although the business has not improved significantly, but there is a successor after all.

Historically, the forging skills of the Miao people have been passed on to men but not to women, and not to the outside. Considering that young people can't bear it, there are fewer and fewer people who really like this craft and are willing to inherit this craft, Wu Shuigen set a precedent, and his daughter Wu Chunxiu learned silversmithing skills from him at the age of 8.

After hard work, Wu Xiuchun has become the inheritor of young female silversmiths in Guizhou Province, and as Miao silver jewelry is more and more valued and sought after, Wu Chunxiu has become the envy of friends and classmates. "It turned out that many people in the village who had gone out to work had come back and wanted to learn from my father."

Wu Xiaodong is the youngest son of Wu Shuigen, and unlike his father and sister, he wants to use another path to pass on traditional culture and skills. When he applied for university, he resolutely gave up his favorite major in civil engineering and chose cultural industry management at Guizhou University.

"Our fathers laid the foundation for us in the most primitive way, and what we need to do is to use knowledge to develop and develop it."

"I'm very busy every day, I get up at 6 a.m. to work until the early hours of the next morning." Wu Shuigen's proudest thing is that a pair of children inherit this skill. "My daughter is more delicate than me, my son is more knowledgeable than me, and one generation is stronger than the next!"

Miao silversmiths are divided into two types: mobile silversmiths and fixed-point silversmiths, Wu Shuigen belongs to fixed-point silversmiths, and undertakes the processing of silver jewelry at home. This used to be the most respected profession in Miao Village.

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