Chapter 6 Beiping's exquisite velvet flower craftsmanship

In the past six or seven years, I have developed the habit of getting up early. I get up as soon as the cock crows. After washing up, I always have to stroll outside for 40 to 50 minutes before going home for breakfast.There is a long-standing custom in the Mainland. When you go out early on New Year’s Day, you must choose an auspicious time. When you step out of the gate, you must face the direction of the god of happiness. The north is called "traveling", and the south is called "douxi god square".According to the calculation of this year's peasant calendar, it is advisable to take Zi and Mao for travel, and the direction is the auspicious northeast.Maoshi coincides with my daily stroll time, and I usually take a stroll when I go out every day. Since the northeast is auspicious and prosperous, we will go to the northeast direction, do as the Romans do, and seek peace of mind, which is better than awkwardness.

Unexpectedly, after walking a few steps to the northeast, I saw an old lady with silvery temples and whirling hair, wearing a big red velvet flower on her head. , still shining golden, especially eye-catching.This red velvet flower is undoubtedly the masterpiece of Beipingrong Flower Shop. Speaking of velvet flower, it was the most delicate handicraft in Beiping back then, and most of those craftsmen were ingenious and could not sell their strength.Only the weaker children of the Kinki family came to Beijing to study with teachers.At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, the velvet flower shop was in its heyday, and it was still a very good job in the craftsman!The velvet flower shops in Beiping are divided into two types: ordinary ones, and ordinary ones. The ordinary ones are located in Longfu Temple, Huguo Temple, Baita Temple, and Tudi Temple. During the period of temple fairs, folks are also sent to set up stalls in the temples.The finely crafted velvet flower shops are concentrated in the Chongwenmenwai Flower Market and Dong'an Market. Although they are all velvet flower shops, they do their own business, do not interfere with each other, and do rough and meticulous work.Roughly, the business of velvet work for opera costumes in Liyuan is probably undertaken by the velvet flower shops in the flower market. The velvet flower silk valleys worn by the nobles and rich families of the royal family are the business of several velvet flower shops in Dong'an Market.All kinds of handicraft businesses require annual leave to let the staff go home for the New Year, but the velvet flower shop is extremely busy at the end of the year, first busy with making Buddha flowers, dried and fresh fruit flowers, honey For flower offerings, there are all kinds of velvet flowers that you have to wear on your head to hold your birthday, hate blessings for being late.If any master came up with an ingenious new pattern, he would secretly tie up hundreds of flowers, densely packed, and put them in a paper box made of straw, and wait for the second day of the first lunar month to be taken outside the gate of Zhangyi. Caishen Temple specializes in selling pilgrims to bring blessings home, and they will grab all the flowers in a short time.The diners buy velvet flowers carefully, of course, Qionghua has nine colors, Gu Kun is beautiful, as long as the style is unique, they are not afraid of high prices.Even the famous gentry and wealthy businessmen would put a few red flowers on the four tiles of the sea dragon hat and the cotton cap when they entered the city after burning incense.Although some wild old village women have sparse hair and sideburns on their heads, they can't wear them and have no place to insert them. They wrap their heads with a piece of light apricot yellow earthen cloth, and then put all kinds of velvet flowers on their heads, so that people can see them at a glance. He is a pious pilgrim returning incense.The craftsmen in the velvet flower shop stopped for two months, and at the beginning of March at the latest, the velvet flower shops were busy with the business of Jinding Miaofeng Mountain. The temple fair of Jinding Miaofeng Mountain lasted for a whole month from the first day of April to the 28th. The duration of the temple fair is the largest temple fair in Hebei Province.After wishing the incense back, no matter men, women, old or young, they all seem to be competing for beauty, with velvet flowers on their heads, which are gorgeous and colorful.According to the craftsman of Ronghuapu: "In the good old days, Ronghuapu could earn a year's chewing of grain (necessities for life), a temple fair at Jinding Miaofeng Mountain, and the rest of the business was earned. "

I heard that the ancestral hall of Du Yuesheng’s family in Pudong, Shanghai was inaugurated. Because of the layout of the main hall of the ancestral hall, Siming Bank specially sent a special person to Beiping to set up a side hall. Intertwined, this velvet curtain was undertaken by the Deshengzhai velvet flower shop in Dong'an Market, Beiping. The price is of course staggering.However, the velvet flower craftsmen in Beiping wear brocade and twist gold, and their skills are so horizontal that the silk flower shops in Shanghai's Xiangfennong area just nod and mouth in amazement. One year, Mei Lanfang performed the first performance of the Kunqu opera "Thorn Tiger", and planned to perform it at the Kaiming Grand Theater.Mei's group of friends chatted in Zhuyuxuan, and before the rehearsal, they sat together and chatted.Some people talked about the appearance of Zhen'e's bridal chamber. According to the formal dress, the phoenix crown, Xiapei and pleated skirt are the most appropriate, but the figure of "Thorn Tiger" is cumbersome. It feels difficult to hang on the top, which affects the watch making.So a wise man came up with an ingenious method. Instead of using emerald beads on his head, he replaced it with a phoenix crown made of velvet flowers. It is not only light and convenient, but also easy to remove. , can be used as much as possible without getting in the way.Among the four famous dandies, Mei Wanhua is the most able to accept good words. After discussing the style, everyone immediately asked Yao Ershun (Yuying), who is in charge, to order a phoenix crown full of big red velvet flowers at the velvet flower shop in Dong'an Market. Singing and dancing on the stage, turning round and floating, like jade coils and rolling clouds, extremely graceful and graceful.Later, Kunling Zhongqin Xuefang, Lu Sujuan and others each ordered one, named Kunpiaoyong Liuxu (German) and even ordered one, decorated it with a glass brocade box, and put it in the living room as a decoration.