Chapter 13 Ancient and modern talk about business cards

Once you enter the gate of October, there are many national celebrations, and folk celebrations seem to join in the fun, red posts are flying all over the sky, and every time you go home after a birthday feast and wedding wine, your pockets are full of business cards of strangers.Some are full of titles, and some describe political platforms (candidates for city councilors). This kind of pervasive and good karma technique is really amazing!During the reign of Emperor Hanhe and before Cai Lun invented papermaking, he was named Jinye and wrote with cut wood. In the early Han Dynasty, it was called "Ye" (Yizhe Shuci, Ziyan Jueli), and at the end of Han Dynasty, it was called "thorn" ( The name of the book was stabbed in Cambodia and Japan).After the Han Dynasty, although paper was used instead, the name "thorn" was still used.In the Tang Dynasty, every year new Jinshi went to Pingkangfang brothel in Chang'an to have fun, and had to write "name paper" on red paper. It was not until the Ming Dynasty that it was renamed "name post". As for the name card, it was a matter in the early years of the Republic of China. , less than a hundred years ago!

When the author was in Beiping, every Spring Festival, I would always set aside a day or two to visit Changdian. People bought antiques, jade, books, calligraphy and paintings, and I only went to the second-hand stalls.I have found a few Chinese seals in the pile of broken copper and iron, and I know the taste by taste, so I am very interested in second-hand stalls.One year, I saw an old account book with a thick blue cloth cover on a second-hand goods stall, and there were several red name cards sandwiched in it. within it.There are about four to five hundred copies of the Imperial Academy of each discipline, and I dare not look through them too much. I spent ten hangs of money, which is about 20 cents, and bought them back.After a careful check, from the 10th year of Qianlong's Yi Chou Zhengke to the 30th year of Guangxu's Jiachen Zhengke, Zhengke, Enke, and Beike, except for Sanding Jia, all Taishi Gongs are all dignified and well-educated. , almost exhausted.There is also a piece of Ito Hirobumi's, more than one foot long, which is the same as the Hanlin famous post. As for the Gengchen Zhengke in the sixth year of Guangxu and the Guiwei Zhengke in the ninth year, there is almost no shortage of Hanlin Gong who was once a member of Cilin.

I once took these famous posts and asked senior Fu Zengxiang, an old man in the Tibetan Garden, for advice.According to Mr. Yuan Shu: "After winning the Jinshi, it is divided into four levels: the first level is the number one scholar, the second place, the three tripods, and the general academic Hanlin; the second level is the official; the third level is the magistrate; Among them, the principal, county magistrate, and Zhongshu are considered to be employed as soon as the list is posted. The so-called use immediately after the list is under the jurisdiction of the subordinate yamen. Only Hanlin, after the list is published, is entered into the Imperial Academy (called entering the courtyard but not called Poor), renamed Shujishi. He has not been employed, and he is not considered an official official. Therefore, during this short period of time, he was arrogant and arrogant. All the famous posts were in his own regular script, engraved with wooden stamps, and printed on plum red paper. The longest one is two feet, the smallest is more than one foot, the big one is four inches square, and the small one is two inches. Zhangzhang iron paintings with silver hooks are majestic and upright. This is the time for Hanlins to show off their indulgence. County magistrates and Zhongshu dare not use this kind of famous post, even Sanding Jia can't use it. Because when Sanding Jia publishes the list, it is the compilation and editing of the Imperial Academy, and it is already regarded as a state official, so the famous posts you collected They are all Hanlin of various subjects, and none of them belong to the top of the Three Tripods. As for the collection of famous Hanlin posts of Gengchen and Guiwei, it is likely that the ancestors of the original owner or himself have a special relationship with these two subjects of Hanlin. It just so happened that two seniors, Zhi Boyu and Zhong Lu, were promoted to Weike together. What a coincidence. Regarding Ito Hirobumi’s famous plum red post, it may be a work of the game!” It’s a pity that these famous posts are all kept. in Peking.

In the late Qing Dynasty, there was a custom of paying homage to superiors, visiting colleagues, returning relatives, and delivering famous posts.When officials from other provinces went to Beijing on business, they had no carriages, horses, or entourages. Before there were no horse-drawn carts and rickshaws, a few mule carts (called "chekou" by Peking people) were parked alone in the open space beside the thoroughfare, and they could be hired at a temporary bargaining price.Whether or not the drivers are allowed to post posts must be explained in advance, and the post will probably require a few extra shillings or extra wine rewards. The money is not in vain for the drivers. When he posts, he still wears a red tasseled cap on his head. It means long-term follow-up for personal use.Posting threatens to protect the book or the box, and the book is just like the current file folder, but it is just a cloth cover.There are Su Qi, Jian Qi, Guang Qi, inlaid mother-of-pearl, and carved red. There are several styles of famous posts: single post, folded post, and full post.The ancients said, "Self-talking Jue Li", some of these famous posts stated their identities, and some stated their relationship with the interviewee, such as late students, waiters, family members, disciples, servants by marriage, foolish brothers by marriage, disciples, etc. , Shi Yu's nephew, etc., so that those who receive the post can know the relationship between each other at a glance, so as not to be confusing and confusing, and have the embarrassment of not knowing who the husband is.

During the Beiyang period, I served a government agency for the first time, working in the Printing Bureau of the Ministry of Finance.The director of the bureau, Pu Yicheng, gave special permission to work in the bureau every Saturday afternoon, so I was listed as an official staff member of the bureau, rather than a nominally paid job.Not only do they receive their salary every month, but they also have a food allowance.According to the practice of the bureau, for those who belong to the Chi-style office staff, the bureau will print and present 300 business cards after arriving on business.One hundred sheets of wood grain paper, one hundred sheets of rosin hot varnish, and one hundred sheets of rotten lettering.Not to mention the exquisiteness of the paper, the printing methods of wood grain, hot varnish, and rotten grain were not printed by ordinary printing houses at that time.The square imitation Song style characters are unique to the printing bureau. Later, a technician left the printing office and went to Zhonghua Book Company to work. He brought a full copy of the square imitation Song style.Later, the cultural circles in Shanghai ridiculed Zhonghua Book Company for printing business cards on behalf of them, and gradually canceled it.

It was very popular for women to print business cards in the early years of the Republic of China. Li Benwei, the wife of President Li Yuanhong, is said to be a prostitute in Shajiaxiang, Hankou. .She wanted to print her business cards. At that time, the business cards used by women were all rounded and gilded, but someone gave her a bad idea to emboss a pair of flying phoenix wings on the business card.She was very proud, and when there was a government-sponsored banquet for the diplomatic missions, she would send such business cards to the wives of the ministers' charge d'affaires.Later, Ms. Xiong Xiling's wife, Ms. Zhu Qihui, saw it and told her that it was the flower pattern scriptures of the girls in Changsantangzi in Shanghai.In the 13th and 14th years of the Republic of China, during the author’s stay in Shanghai, the business circles used to socialize and entertain, and they liked to fly papers to attract flowers, and persuaded them to drink at banquets. They all brought pink, water and green embossed embossed letters, and gave them very small business cards (at that time, Shanghai male prostitutes Zhong Xueqin also used this small pink embossed business card), and from this I knew the reason why Zhu Qihui discouraged Mrs. Li from using this kind of business card.

When the author was working in Nanjing, there was a colleague, Mr. Liu Gonghe, whose uncle was Liu Yizheng, a master of Chinese studies.Liu Jun filled out the Ci with elegant elegance and clear rhyme, which was greatly appreciated by Zhu Jiangyou and Shen Meisou, but his Ci was sent to Xinshen and the two newspapers and was never published. I guess it was his pen. Even the editors couldn't recognize all the rippling wild grass, so they had no choice but to part with each other.I tried to copy and send the original manuscript, whether it was sent to "Shenbao" or "News", all of them were reproduced, so I copied all his poems and then sent them to the post.One day he suddenly sent two boxes of business cards with lead-cast name stamps. It was Li Ruiqing, a Qing Taoist, who printed my name in a script written in Weibei font on the business cards.At that time, Qing Daoist had a pen list in Shanghai Jiuhuatang, but the small characters below Cun Kai had not been accepted for a long time. It was not because of their deep friendship, these three small characters of "Tang Lusun" were hard-won.I already had lead-cast name stamps, which I reprinted when I used them up. When the Anti-Japanese War came to Taiwan after victory, I also printed 200 business cards and brought them with me. Unfortunately, the lead stamps were left in Beiping. Now that the business cards are used up, I can no longer print them.

At the beginning of Taiwan's recovery, the compatriots in this province have received 50 years of Japanese education, and they have not exhausted the writing customs of the motherland, so there have been some jokes on the business cards they use.A certain gentleman was happy to get married, and when he received a congratulatory gift, he also knew how to write a thank you note, a big red film, saying that the recipient received the gift, which was quite standard, and he also printed the words "Dinghui sincere speech" next to it, to accept the gift Afterwards, it was no longer possible to say pleas. Literally speaking, there is nothing wrong with "Ding Hui's sincere speech", but it is a custom in the Mainland that these four words are usually printed on obituaries, and now it is printed on thank you notes, which seems a bit awkward.

Back then, I worked in a cigarette factory, and a businessman sent spices used in cigarettes. During the Japanese occupation era, cigarettes were filled with this spice. Because of the heavy fat and powder, most people don’t like to smoke Japanese-made cigarettes. That’s the reason. We Absolutely discard it.However, this businessman searched and bought a lot in the mainland and shipped them to Taiwan, thinking that he could always make a lot of money. However, the cigarettes changed their formula. Exert pressure to force the tobacco factory to submit.One day, an arrogant gentleman came to the tobacco factory, took out his business card, with a lot of names, and at the end it was written that he was the son of so-and-so.He threatened and lured us hard and softly, but fortunately we had already reported it and insisted on the principle. In the end, he ran out of skills.This is another strange business card I saw when I came to Taiwan.

In the last provincial council election, a candidate used a transparent plastic card for his business card. He printed a place of interest in his place of residence on the other half of his business card, so that voters would not forget their friendship with him.The printing is exquisite, and many people who receive this kind of business card keep it as a bookmark.One candidate, probably related to the aluminum company, had a business card made of aluminum foil in soft colors that stood out.As far as the author knows, printing color on aluminum foil requires a high degree of technology. Later, I found out that the candidate's aluminum business card was printed from Japan.In all kinds of elections, it is understandable for candidates to try their best to introduce their schooling experience and current title so that voters can have a better understanding of him.However, I received a business card with more than a dozen titles written on it, and my name was squeezed into the lower left corner. Looking closely at the title of this man, it was either an honorary director, a group consultant, or even the deputy of a certain sports team. The team leader, the patron of a certain charity organization, after careful consideration, there is no actual job.If this kind of extravagant and flamboyant person is elected, can he not betray the situation?

When the author first entered the society, Master Yan Yintong, my first teacher, once told me: "When you are entertaining outside, you must prepare some business cards with your name, hometown, address, and telephone number printed on them, so that you can exchange them with friends you have just made. If someone gives you a business card, you If you don’t return one, it’s easy for people to misunderstand that you are too arrogant, or you don’t want to hand in the details. Wouldn’t it be wronged? , is a pretentious and artificial person who is not good enough for the law." For many years, I have followed the teacher's training and always carry a few business cards with me in case of emergencies.