Chapter 40 The movement played by the second chapter "The Rattle"

Yiwu is located in the central part of Zhejiang Province, and was called Wushang in ancient times.Its place name is also connected with a beautiful and moving legend: it is rumored that there is a filial son named Yan Wu, who was born in poverty, but knows the way of propriety, righteousness and filial piety.At that time, there were frequent wars in the Central Plains. In order to avoid the disaster of war, Yan Wu and his dependent father came to live in Yiwu, Jiangdu. Soon his father died of serious illness. His fingers were broken, and blood and mud covered them. A group of crows were moved by his filial piety, and they all helped him to bury his father. The crow's beak was covered with scars, and Yan Wu fell beside his father's grave in grief... Crow The place name of Shang is taken from the saying "Yan Wu buried his father".

Yiwu takes the lead, which reflects the traditional virtues of Yiwu people.However, in order to thrive on this barren land, Yan’s descendants used their industrious hands to cultivate and cultivate a large number of jujube trees and sugar cane. And become famous all over the world.Yiwu, located in the middle of Zhejiang Province, used to have poor mountains and rivers, and the traffic was blocked. Although the rich and businessmen did not want to stay here for a long time, they also retained a group of people who were relegated by the governments of the past dynasties and a group of defeated generals and wounded soldiers in the war. .Gradually, Yiwu became a surprisingly poor place with more people and less land.Poor people want to change, so some people try to turn the sugar cane in the field into sugar cubes, and then go to foreign countries to exchange sugar for goods, and then sort the exchanged goods, or sell them for cash, or use them as fertilizers to grow food.According to the records of "Yiwu County Chronicles", as early as in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, farmers in this county carried sugar loads on their shoulders and shook rattles by hand during the winter and spring slack seasons every year. Traveling to villages and alleys in other places, they came to exchange poultry and livestock bones, old clothes and shoes, scrap copper and rotten iron, etc., for small profits.On the eve of the Anti-Japanese War, the number of people engaged in this industry in this county increased to tens of thousands, and it developed into a unique industry-"Knocking Sugar Gang".

Perhaps no one in the north has ever seen what the "Candy Knocking Gang" is like, but in the south, almost everyone in their early 30s has seen those sugar-changers holding rattles and carrying the burden of shopkeepers on their shoulders.As far as I can remember from my childhood, during the slack season, especially during the Chinese New Year in the first lunar month, there were so many sugar traders that I could see them almost every day.This interview in Yiwu made me understand that the sugar-changer I had been looking forward to every day in my childhood turned out to be the subject of my writing today, which inevitably reminded me of scenes from my childhood.At that time, people who lived in the countryside would always kill chickens and pigs during Chinese New Year, and the remaining chicken feathers and pig bones were often thrown aside. The old people and children liked to pick up these things and tidy them up. Come, you can exchange for a sweet lollipop or rolled candy.If there are more things, the adults in the family have to exchange some daily necessities for needles and brains from the salesman.What impresses me deeply is that every time my grandma combs her hair, she always rolls up the strands of hair that fall off the comb and accumulates them. When the salesman comes to carry them, she takes out a roll of hair and gives it to my grandson. Eat a candy or two.At that time, how I hoped that grandma would lose some hair every time she combed her hair.As for my grandma, although she is 90 years old and dying, she still retains the habit of accumulating residual hair.Coincidentally, during the Spring Festival of 1999, when I stopped by my hometown after interviewing in Yiwu, my grandma took out a large curly hair from under her bed and said, A Ming (my nickname), look at me I kept my hair for you all the time, but why doesn't the sugar changer come here anymore?I hurriedly took over the strands of gray hair, and couldn't help telling my grandma that those sugar traders in the past had long since disappeared, and now they are doing big business and are all rich.When grandma heard this, her eyes lit up and she said, "The world has really changed. The sugar exchangers in the past were the most miserable and pitiful people!"

My grandma's words are correct, but she is not as lucky as I am. She has witnessed the scene that the sugar traders in the past are all so rich that they are about to bleed! "Knock Sugar Gang"?rattle?Can I still see you now? When I knew that the sugar traders and peddlers I saw when I was a child were all from Yiwu, the first thing I did when I came to Yiwu was to see the "Tangtang Gang" that I always hoped to appear in the village 20 or 30 years ago , and the rattle drums in their hands.However, after many days of searching, I have never seen a rattle drum (unfortunately, I specifically suggested to the local cadres that the traditional rattle drum should be developed as a special product.), so I talked about the "beating sugar" of the picker. help".Yiwu people all laughed: how can there be now!We are all setting up stalls, opening shops and running factories, who still does that business!In fact, I can also guess this point, just because I arrived in Yiwu, the hometown of the rattle drum, it reminded me of the special affection for the "sugar changer" in my childhood, and I am used to tasting ice cream and Nescafe coffee every day Yu, really want to taste the authentic Yiwu green sugar cubes that have been away for decades.The Yiwu people laughed again, saying that we can bring you a lot of candy now, but there is really no one that can give you a piece of candy that was exchanged for chicken feathers back then.Although I was somewhat regretful after hearing this, I was still very excited when I saw the new scene where the sugar exchangers in those days are now rich and well-off.

But I still have a request, that is, to go to Niansanli in person to see this once the birthplace of the rattle drum and the Yiwu Small Commodity Market. Niansanli is very famous in Yiwu area, because the distance between it and the five surrounding market towns was 23 miles in the old days, so it got its name.The birthplace of the rattle in front of me is too far from the town I imagined.Look at the wide avenue that is several kilometers long. The owner said that the widest part is 36 meters; look at the brand-new buildings on both sides of the avenue, all of which are four or five stories high. "From the pavement to the buildings, all were built by the farmers themselves." The owner told me proudly.

This is the small town in the hometown of the rattle, which used to have only one small street. Now the market town alone covers an area of ​​four to five square kilometers, and the number of local urban residents reaches more than 20,000.Adding more than 10,000 migrant workers, the population of the market town has exceeded 30,000.Nearly a thousand large, medium and small private enterprises are densely distributed throughout the town, forming a famous town in central Zhejiang with a modern scale.It is said that a piece of foundation of 40 to 50 square meters in a small town is currently sold for more than 300,000 yuan.If it's in a good location, it's more than that.When I stepped into the compound of the town government and looked up at the office building standing in front of it, I immediately complained about the "ministry building" in the capital, because the town government building in Niansanli is so magnificent!

"This is thanks to the reform and opening-up policy and the booming Yiwu market." Several town cadres who received me continued to be modest, and I didn't know what they were telling the truth until I had lunch at noon. Among the five town cadres at my table, There are 3 members of the "Tangtang Gang" who were born in rattle drums.The owners said that almost every household in their place has played rattles for hundreds of years.At that time, the men carried the peddlers' loads to travel north and south to "exchange chicken feathers for sugar", while the women in the family sorted and disposed of the goods exchanged by the men, or made sugar and tied flowers, made some small handicrafts, and prepared goods for the headed family to go out again.The small street of less than 200 meters in Niansanli is the only place where the "Tangtang Gang" from far and near can conduct free trade, and it is also the "starting station" that later developed into the entire Yiwu Small Commodity Market.

"The old street still exists?" "Yes, the town keeps it." This is good news, and I couldn't help but let the owner take it with me. The one-line street in front of me is the kind of street in a small town in the south of the Yangtze River that I was familiar with when I was a child.Its streets are only as wide as two shoulder poles, with curved stone roads, and the pavements on the left and right sides are still old-fashioned: grocery stores, small noodle shops, barber shops, and this street scene is destined to no longer have customers.In a calligraphy and painting shop, I saw a gentle old man writing Spring Festival couplets, so I went to greet him.

The old man, whose surname is Zhao and whose name is Weimao, is 66 years old. He used to be a schoolteacher. After retiring, he opened a calligraphy and painting shop in his house facing the street. "Everyone is rich now. During the festivals and festivals, everyone likes to add a little bit of joy, so my small business can earn several hundred yuan a month." The old man said happily. "How old is this little street?" "It's far away, but this street is said to have looked like this during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom." "Then... when do you remember when the most people came to do business on this street?"

"It's time to cut the tail!" The old man blurted out, but I didn't understand what he meant. He hurriedly added, "It's the time to cut the tail of capitalism! At that time, people in Yiwu didn't have a good life, so The most people go out to 'exchange chicken feathers for sugar', and the street will be the busiest at that time!" The old man's "black humor" made us laugh.It was not Lin Biao and the "Gang of Four" who cut off the "tail of capitalism" in the countryside and cut the Chinese people into unspeakable misery! The "cunning" Yiwu people have this clever trick of "exchanging chicken feathers for sugar", so the "capitalist tail" growing on this small street in Niansanli is surprisingly thick. Isn't this an excellent "political humor" created by Yiwu people? "?

But Yiwu people themselves know that for this "black humor", what they pay is blood and tears... Among the hundreds of thousands of businessmen in Yiwu, Shi Wenjian was the first batch of "red landlords" who came out of Niansanli... because he not only served as the village party secretary, but also the first party secretary of the Labor Association of the "China Small Commodity Market" . In 1985, when the Yiwu market was booming, Shi Wenjian was already the "big brother" among the local businessmen, but the "14950" stall owner kept the money pouring in and didn't make any money. The deputy director of the individual association where others make money as paving stones.Shi Wenjian is not a fool. He is famous for his shrewdness in business, but he gave up the chance to become a billionaire without hesitation.Lao Shi, who is now 65 years old, told me that he is willing to sacrifice his personal opportunities to make money to make more people rich, because he has too many experiences of shaking the "rattle drum" and he knows too much about his many "rattle drums". The folks at Rattle Drum are eager to get rid of poverty. "I am a native of Niansanli. My Rufu Village is a well-known poor village in Yiwu. In 1956, I was the secretary of the Party branch in the village. The impact of ideological trends is too heavy and deep, especially during the "ten years of turmoil". You can't do anything. If you want to lead everyone to live a better life, you have to be criticized. The soil of our village is barren. If there is no poultry and livestock for planting rice If the raw material is used as the base fertilizer, the rice will have poor tillering and the yield will not increase. For fertilizer, our ancestors took advantage of the local green sugar, and there was a business tradition of "chicken feathers for sugar" very early .In fact, Yiwu people's earliest "chicken feathers for sugar" was not to make money, but to improve the soil as a last resort. Later, in the process of "chicken feathers for sugar", it was discovered that it could not only solve the problem of using poultry and livestock hair as fertilizer, so as to achieve The purpose of improving the soil can also win some small profits that can improve life, so "chicken feathers for sugar" has since become a basic means for Yiwu people to survive and multiply in this barren land." Mr. Shi told me the story of "chicken feathers for sugar" that ordinary Yiwu people can't tell.Then, in a tone full of vicissitudes, he told me about the unbearable sufferings of Yiwu people's "chicken feathers for sugar" based on his own experience: "People here are already poor, so how can they have any money to go out and do business? The old hen at home lays a few eggs and is reluctant to eat them, or when the piglets in the pen grow up, they sell them to collect some money, add some small grocery items, pick up a pair of shopkeepers, shake the rattle and go out. When I was the village party secretary, I couldn't take the lead to go out to "exchange chicken feathers for sugar". The rebels knocked me down and gave me the opportunity to shake the rattle. The first time I went out in 1967 was a big mountainous area, because only those who had no one Where we go, we can use our Yiwu green sugar and small department stores to exchange some idle poultry and animal hairs from the farmers. I still remember the first time I went out, it was really called "eat six grain paste, It’s an uphill road. It’s snowing and windy. When I go out, I’m carrying a load and I don’t dare to put on clothes. This way, I can’t go in and out, and there’s no place to go back. But the snowflakes on the top of the wind are going straight to my heart as usual. Seeing the sky It was getting dark, I was anxious, I wanted to lift my feet faster, but I accidentally tripped and fell into the pond by the side of the road... At that moment, I had only one thought: I can't drown in a foreign land like this for nothing A different place! I still don’t understand how I climbed from the piercing pool to the shore. When I landed, I first thought of the goods in the load, so I didn’t care about my wet body and provoked The burden went straight to the local supply and marketing cooperative, and when the goods were sold, my clothes and pants were all turned into shards of ice, and there was nowhere on my body that was not red and swollen... But this is not the one that suffered the most. We shook the rattle What I fear most is being suspected or misunderstood for no reason. That year I saw that farmers in some places liked poisonous rat poison very much, so I also brought a few packs in the peddler's bag. Unexpectedly, a woman in a village died of the same The husband was at odds, so he poisoned her man maliciously. Fortunately, the man smelled the food and immediately gave it to the dog to eat. The poor dog fell to the ground and died on the spot. I don’t know the cause and effect, so I passed by that place I was still yelling, "Is there any chicken feathers for rat poison?" As soon as I finished speaking, a group of "Red Guards" with red armbands on their arms grabbed me without any explanation, and besieged me... Fortunately, there was a group of people who knew about it afterwards. The old lady scrambled to buy rat poison, and said jokingly to the Red Guards: "We don't buy medicine to poison our husbands. Besides, our men have already been buried in the ground!" 'Liberation', but my frightened heart did not calm down for several days." Luo Youhua, the deputy mayor of Ersan Town.He was not my pre-determined interview subject, but as soon as we sat down, the man who had served in the military for 6 years couldn't help but tearfully told me about his "rattle drum" career.Mayor Luo said that when he returned to his hometown from the army in 1975, he only earned 20 cents a day working in the production team, and the best year was only 50 cents a day.At that time, a catty of rice cost 40 cents. A strong laborer had to eat a catty of rice a day, and worked hard for a day, but it was not enough for a day. Naturally, he could not live on.He, Luo Youhua, has been in the army for 6 years, and he is considered a person who has seen the world, but he has to lower his high head, hold a rattle, and go away from home to "exchange chicken feathers for sugar". "I was a cadre of the production team at the time, and I was a member of the party in the army. It was stipulated that I could not take the lead to engage in "capitalism"! But as a cadre, I have to live! Helpless, I asked someone to come from the production brigade A certificate was issued. At that time, it was difficult to go out without a certificate. Some people in Yiwu lost the certificate they carried on the way. She was locked up for several months, and when her family rescued her after many twists and turns, she was already a half-human, half-ghost. I still clearly remember how the 40 yuan capital came from the first time I went out: it was a family of three The saved four-foot-five-foot cloth tickets were exchanged for 13 yuan and 50 cents... At that time, each foot of cloth tickets could be sold for 30 cents, and the vegetables in the private plot were sold for two yuan, plus the 9 catties of soybeans distributed by the production team were sold. Some of the money exchanged after the exchange, plus the 24 yuan left after I was discharged from the army, the source of the total 40 yuan has been over 30 years, and I still remember it clearly. What does this mean? It means that we were in Yiwu at that time People are too poor to live without doing a small side job. However, "chicken feathers for sugar" is not a good business for us Yiwu people! Except for Yiwu people, I have never heard of anyone doing "chicken feathers for sugar". Why? Not because it is a bitter and unprofitable business! But we Yiwu people are different from others here: dare to endure hardships, not afraid of small profits, no matter how small the profit is, we will do it , This may be the spiritual connotation that our big market in Yiwu can form today. You ask me how the business of "chicken feathers for sugar" is managed? Let me tell you like this: For example, I start out with 40 yuan of capital, first served Exchange the 40 yuan into goods. Those so-called goods are needles, threads, and hairpins for women. When you go to a place, you have to find a good place to stay, and spend 1 yuan and 30 cents for a night there. Eat two meals, one early and one late, and the ten or so hours in between are the time for you to shake the rattle. The business of "chicken feathers for sugar" is simple and simple. There are 25 needles in a pack of ten cents. When we go out, we can exchange two needles for a handful of chicken feathers. A pack of 25 needles in ten cents can usually be exchanged for one or two catties of chicken feathers. One or two catties of chicken feathers is fine. It’s worth a few bucks! So we usually start going out in November after autumn to “exchange chicken feathers for sugar”, and don’t go back until the end of February and early March after the Spring Festival. After three or four months of running around, in addition to paying one yuan a day In addition to crediting work points to the production team, you can also accumulate three to four hundred yuan. At that time, saving three to four hundred yuan in a winter was not a small amount. So although we Yiwu people know that we can bear the burden of suffering, but never Not willing to give up the rattle easily." "Where's the farthest place you've been?" I asked. "Jiangxi. We went there by train." Mayor Luo said. "How many roads do you travel in a day?" "Well...Anyway, I remember once climbing a mountain and walking through two counties, which was more than a hundred miles!" He said, "The worst time in my memory is that I didn't eat a bite for two days." "why?" "The original plan was to return to the foothold that day. Later, seeing that the business was good, I just walked into the mountains. I didn't want to get out once I entered. There were no people for two days and two nights. Although my belly was already on my back, the shoulders Don’t dare to lose the burden. The journey in those two days was like the Red Army’s 25,000 miles. Many of us in our 40s and 50s have stomach problems, and most of them are caused by shaking the rattle. ..." Mr. Luo's words brought me into a long memory: I remember that I was just in elementary school at that time, and one of my little aunts got married during the Spring Festival this year, and many relatives came to the house.At noon, a "savage" who "exchanges chicken feathers for sugar" came to the village - such foreigners in our southern Jiangsu area collectively call beekeeping for sugar.At the time, I certainly didn't know that the "wild man" shaking the rattle was from Yiwu, let alone the suffering they endured for their livelihood.The "savage" suddenly fell to the ground after entering the village. My relatives who attended the wedding hurriedly helped him up, and after giving him a drink of water, the man shaking the rattle slowly woke up. There was a trace of bright red blood on the corner of his mouth.I was terrified, and I heard the adults saying anxiously: "It's not good, it's a bad day! It's a bad day!" So someone brought a ferry boat to take the sugar changer to the hospital in the town, but The "savage" shook his hand, but refused to go.I watched the man staggering out of the village with a load on his shoulders, and the rattle in his hand fell into the ditch by the roadside.Although the children in Murakami and I like rattles very much, no one dared to pick them up, because I heard from adults that the sugar changer who threw the rattle was found dead on the road the next day... I have never forgotten one of them in my memory. If I hadn’t been lucky enough to meet Yiwu people more than 30 years later, I would have gradually faded away. In exchange for the compassion of the sugar man, I also want to take this opportunity to correct the obvious discriminatory titles that we Sunan people should not use for foreigners. "Hey—chicken feathers, pig bones, old clothes, old hats, old hats, candy—pick, plop..." During the trip to Yiwu, I never thought that my emotions would still be hard to let go of the shouts that often echoed in my ears when I was a child. .In the shouting, I can't help but appreciate how Yiwu people survived and struggled countless times yesterday!Perhaps it is because I have had a special emotion for the melody of the rattle drum since I was a child, so now it seems easier to listen to and accept the melody played by the people of Yiwu from their primitive life. In Yiwu, I heard many stories about rattle drummers:—— A rattle drummer went to Jiangxi to "exchange chicken feathers for sugar" because the local people believed that he was engaged in "capitalism", and this Yiwu native lost the production brigade's certificate of permission to go out to do business halfway, so they regarded him as a fugitive He was forced to do hard labor in a quarry for nearly a year.During this period, his family thought he was starving to death, but when he was released from the quarry and returned home, his wife and only daughter became members of another family—— There was a rattle drummer who encountered bad luck as soon as he went out. He walked on a mountain road at night and accidentally broke his legs, leaving him permanently disabled. The 80-year-old mother has served her son for a lifetime, and finally the old mother sent her son to the funeral...—— There is a crazy woman who still often wanders in the small commodity market. Her husband died in a foreign land after falling ill during a "chicken feather for sugar" thirty or forty years ago.The deceased husband and the wife were newly married at the time, and the bride longed day and night for the husband to come home, but she dried up her eye sockets and cried out her tears. A few years later, she suddenly burst out laughing, and she became a lunatic ever since. son…… At the home of Zhu Youfu, Secretary of the Party Branch of Niansanli Village in Niansanli Town, the owner told me that taking their Niansanli Village as an example, in the past when the slack season came, there were no men between the ages of fifteen and sixteen to 60 in the village. It is not normal for a family of men not to go out to "exchange chicken feathers for sugar".Zhu Youfu's name is really amazing. His four-story building can overlook the panoramic view of Niansanli New Town, and the Feng Shui is far from ordinary.But compared with the surrounding neighbors with many new buildings, Zhu Youfu's house is already a bit shabby.This may further prove why the three golden plaques of "Secretary of Enriching the People" issued by the municipal government in his lobby have been shining all the time. It also shows that this rattle drummer was a good leader who truly benefited the people. Talking about Niansanli today, Zhu Youfu was very passionate. From his mouth, I knew that Niansanli Town, which is like a modern city today, was a small street less than 200 meters long more than ten years ago, and only It's just a "small dock" where a few urban residents don't get work points.Today's Niansanli, the township alone covers an area of ​​4 square kilometers, with wide roads, rows of buildings, prosperous scenes and commodity markets in all directions.In the eyes of peasants, more than 30,000 urban residents have registered permanent residence as the "upper class" and a status symbol.Zhu Youfu said that his village is now full of "urban residents", and all of the more than 2,000 people have become "residents".He said that you urbanites don't quite understand it, but for us farmers, this "resident registration" is really a big deal.Some people say that millions and tens of millions of dollars are easy to earn, but whoever can turn a farmer's household registration into a "resident household registration" is the real skill!Look, now every household in our village has become a city dweller. This is the biggest and most practical change for the farmers!There are two other phenomena that can also explain that our Niansanli people are not what they used to be.Have you seen our new town area? The square kilometers are full of new streets and new buildings, and these new streets and new buildings are not built or paved with government funds, but are all built and paved with our own money. Road, the government just carried out the planning and layout.You may have heard that a piece of commercial land of more than 40 square meters in our town of Ersanli has been sold for 210,000 yuan!In the past, it was said that every inch of land in prime cities is like gold, but now our remote farmers’ land is also valuable. Isn’t this the biggest change?There is another thing that can explain the same reasoning. Just take our village as an example. The population of our village is only over 2,400, but now the permanent population of out-of-town residents has exceeded 5,000, which is more than twice the local population.Among them are not only part-time workers, but also many people have settled here to do business.You ask why a small town can keep so many "Phoenixes" from other places?Of course it is because there is a market for doing business here! "Niansanli has been a treasured place for business since ancient times, and it is also the hometown of rattle drums for Yiwu people to "exchange chicken feathers for sugar". It can be said that Yiwu has today because of the old street that we still have in Niansanli on the edge of the new city. Writer Comrade, haven’t you already been to that old street? It is the testimony of us Yiwu people who have grown from being looked down upon as “chicken feathers for sugar” salesmen and beggars to today’s businessmen who are envied by all Chinese people.” Zhu There are plenty of reasons to say this confidently, because his personal growth experience is also the change process of the whole society in Yiwu.What he said when I was leaving is unforgettable: "Our contribution to the Yiwu market in Ersanli is forged with blood and tears..." When I in-depth interviewed those Yiwu businessmen who started from a penny and a dime a day on Ersanli Street to create a "millionaire" every year today, I got a deeper understanding of Zhu Youfu's words.Yes, this is a fact that cannot be denied at any time: If there is no spirit of breaking the rattle for a chicken feather and a pig bone in the small street of Niansanli yesterday, then it is naturally impossible for the people of Yiwu today to have The big market of "China's No. 1 City" is even less likely to be rich, and there may be more rattle drummers who still leave their hometowns. Any great change in history always forges a profound national spirit.Yiwu people are no exception. When I came to Yiwu for the first time, I accompanied a delegation of Chinese writers to participate in the "1998 China Small Commodity Market Expo" held here.In the grand, enthusiastic and unimaginable business atmosphere, my heart that is hard to calm is always thinking about such a problem: Yiwu neither has the good Fengshui of "capital frontier" like Guangzhou and Shenzhen, nor does it have Shanghai and Suzhou. Such a business rhythm that has been accumulated for hundreds of years, but why did the classics of Chinese farmers in this century be created here? I finally figured it out, that is the "rattle drum" spirit that only Yiwu people have.This "rattle drum" spirit is hard work, daring and unremitting efforts to make progress. The "rattle drum" is a kind of musical instrument attached to business, and every melody of it is used to serve the "chicken feathers for sugar", so its full charm lies in the shaking power of the drummer.Almost every businessman in Yiwu knows this. He Haimei is one of the most extraordinary businessmen I have met, and she is still in her glamor when she is nearly 50 this year.He Haimei didn't have a good time when she was young. Because of the "Cultural Revolution", she had to be a "junior high school graduate" prematurely.Due to her short stature, she could only earn four or five work points for a day of heavy work like others, and at the end of the year she could not afford even a piece of clothing. In 1976, she married Xiao Jin, who worked in the city. Her husband earned 33 yuan a month, and she was considered a "rich" family at that time.However, after the birth of the son in the second year, He Haimei's life was still difficult because the household registration could only follow that of the mother.What made it even more difficult for He Haimei was that the household registrations of her mother and son were revoked on the grounds that He Haimei married a city resident, including her son's rations.He Haimei, who lives in the city, couldn't find a job to make ends meet in the city, so she opened a clothing store with her own ingenuity.This is a "complete tail of capitalism". Suddenly one day, people who "crack down on speculation and turn over the office" broke into He Haimei's clothing store, took away her sewing machine without any explanation, and severely ordered: "There is only one way out: Close the shop and don't do it!" He Haimei was stubborn by nature, but for the sake of her son and husband, she lowered her head with tears in her eyes.As the saying goes: put it to death and then live.Just when He Haimei was desperate for life, her elder brother brought a few still photos when he went home to visit relatives in the army, which made the young people in the neighborhood fall in love with them.Yes, this is a good deal for the money!He Haimei has a better mind and hands. She knows that making photos is not too difficult, so she spent 35 yuan to buy a set of simple photo-processing equipment.At that time, the Yiwu Cinema was showing drama films, and people who were tired of watching model dramas were very interested in this kind of costume drama, and the shows were almost full.He Haimei seems to have a special kind of business sensitivity. She took an old borrowed camera and sat in the first row of the movie theater. She saw a few shots that young people liked and "clicked" again and again, and went home overnight to develop the photos. The next day, when she set up a booth on the stone slab at the entrance of the theater with her self-made photos, there were three floors of onlookers.After a movie, all the dozens of photos she edited were sold, and many young people bought them without even asking the price. "One-two...five-six..." He Haimei sneaked a little, and the net profit was more than ten yuan!That day she was so happy that she couldn't close her mouth.The business started in this way, but at that time no businessmen were allowed in the city, so He Haimei had to go to Niansanli Town in the countryside, where it was said that a stall could be set up every Lunar New Year's Day market.The first time she came back to Niansanli, the so-called businessmen that He Haimei saw were just a hundred or so people sitting on both sides of the old street, displaying all kinds of small department stores and small sundries.He Haimei still remembers the scene of setting up a stall in Niansanli that year: the husband and wife first developed the photos the night before, and had to set off before dawn the next day. No one rides - Yiwu people never spend a penny easily when they are doing small business.As soon as He Haimei recalled the business scene in Niansanli, He Haimei wanted to laugh: "At that time, there were no booths, no tables and chairs, so I hung a military satchel given by my brother on my chest, and stood at the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative with a large bag. As soon as the photo proofs were pasted on a piece of white paper, I started shouting. The business I was doing at that time was new to the locals who had been doing "chicken feathers for sugar". At first, no one bought my goods. Greeting customers, while telling them, you just feel free to resell it, we both make money if you sell it well, and you can return it if you can’t sell it, anyway, I’m here every day, don’t worry! I bought the photos in my hand, because someone really took the photos I edited to Nanchang, Hefei and other places to make money. They sold the photos for one or two cents to one dollar a piece, so many people bought them from me. I became the only owner selling photos in the Niansanli market, and the business naturally exceeded my imagination. It is not an exaggeration to say that the nationally famous printed matter market appeared in Yiwu, which was first triggered by my success in selling small photos. of." I have heard about Yiwu's printed matter market a few years ago, but I don't think it originated from a few photos of an ordinary peasant girl. This really makes people feel the magic of the market economy.Now there are tens of thousands of Yiwu small commodities that are sold well in the national and even global markets, and without exception, there are touching legends like He Haimei. The first time I walked into the world of flowers in Yiwu China Commodity City, I was immediately attracted by the endless flower stalls in the market.I remember one time when I "mistakenly entered" a small commodity market in the capital, my daughter was reluctant to move any more. In desperation, I patiently watched these small commodities that were said to come from Yiwu. I didn't want to be completely created by Yiwu people. These wonderful handicrafts have subdued. On the one hand, it is not only wonderful, but on the other hand, its variety is unimaginable. What's more, the farmers in Yiwu have the kind that makes the people in the city feel advanced. Awareness is truly admirable.That day my daughter took the opportunity to make a fortune, and if I hadn't helped carry that big bag of "things" on the way home, she wouldn't have been able to go home by herself anyway.What is even more amazing to me is that my wife, who has always been very picky about products, is very fond of the Yiwu hair flower products bought by her daughter this time.One of the rewards of coming to Yiwu is that it gave me the opportunity to directly meet these rattle drummers who develop the first flower products. People in Yiwu told me that their hair flower products come from Zhengshantou Village in Niansanli.Now this small village has become a professional flower head village and a national head flower production base. There are thousands of kinds and more than ten thousand tons of various head flowers, flower arrangements, gift flowers and other flower products produced every year. In addition to hundreds of small commodity wholesale markets, it is also sold to more than a dozen regions and countries such as Hong Kong, the United States and South Africa. "In fact, the head flower product is just a small variety among the countless commodities created by our Yiwu people in the process of 'exchanging chicken feathers for sugar'." The people of Zhengshantou Village recalled that in 1982, Li Zhangdi of Niansanli Paidang brought it back from Guangzhou. A head flower is made of gauze, and Lao Li bought it for his wife.Coincidentally, Jin Zhenghai, who was passing by shaking the rattle in my village, saw it, and he immediately wanted to imitate it.But the yarn used for the head flower that Li Zhangdi bought for his daughter-in-law is only available in Guangzhou. The scheming Jin Zhenghai thought about whether he could replace it with the yarn he usually bought from Huzhou Hongqi Silk Factory in the "chicken feathers for sugar"?After a trial, it really worked. Jin Zhenghai threw the self-made hair flower into the market. The girls and daughters-in-law couldn't put it down, and the sales were booming.Jin Zhenghai is also a good person. Seeing that the hair flower business is good, he taught it to the villagers without reservation. Therefore, in a short period of time, every household in Zhengshantou Village started the hair flower business.郑礼龙和郑朱龙、郑以枫、金益平4人还率先在这一年办起了头花专业厂。虽然当时这4户的厂不算大，但却是义乌农民从手工作坊式的加工业向机械工业迈出的具有历史性的关键一步。郑山头村离城镇较远，开始大伙用自行车驮着货上街卖，可供不应求；他们再改三轮车驮，还是供不应求；于是就同城里的汽车站商议开通一趟客车送货，然而依旧满足不了要货的客户。干脆，再加租一辆行李车！几位头花生产的大户一商量，事情这么简单地定了下来。稀罕事，“农民进城经商买月票！”郑山头村人的头花生意，惹得《人民日报》等都发表文章称道。 现今有“头花大王”之称的郑礼龙，忘不了当年郑山头村从事头花生意的初期，他为了留住进城送货的汽车司机们，亲自出钱修建了驾驶员停车场和宿舍。冬天，他怕司机冷，便每人供给一条电热毯；夏天热，只要司机一进村头，他便送上冰过的红枣绿豆汤。有个夏季，光红枣他郑礼龙就买了100多斤。“那时其实我不是怕送货的司机跑了，而是怕咱们郑山头村的头花生意给别人抢走了。这不，后来我们的生产发展了，生意越做越大，自己都有了汽车，村上也有了四通八达的商业专线，头花的生意更是做遍了全国、全世界……”郑礼龙不无感慨。 在廿三里的街头，我还听说了这样一个故事：当年有位妇女叫金惠明，她丈夫在廿三里的街头听人说有种铁皮五角星很走俏，她听后暗喜，因为金惠明的远房亲戚在办铁皮加工厂，自然每天有不少边角料白白处理掉。金惠明心一动，连夜从亲戚那儿拉回一车边角铁皮，又和丈夫一把剪刀一把尺子地干开了。丈夫军人出身，对五角星有特殊感情，他把铁皮五角星认认真真地漆上了红颜色，于是一个个闪闪发光的红五星就这样出现在廿三里市场上。令金惠明没有想到的是她的货一上市就被人“一口吃掉”，而且卖了个好价钱。她回家把喜讯告诉丈夫，俩人兴头上决定：咱就做这红五星！这一干就收不住了：每天上午金惠明蹬着车到亲戚的铁皮厂把边角料运回家，下午就动手干起来，一直到晚上十一二点停工。第二天天蒙蒙亮再到街上卖掉，如此一阵子干下来，她金惠明竟成了市场上销售铁皮五星的专业户，本地商外地商都找她要货。于是金惠明由手工加工改为机械化生产，她的红五星后来竟然走遍了江苏、湖南等大半个中国。几年之后，贩铁皮生意的金惠明成了义乌市场上的家电销售大户，而且直接能在自己的家庭工厂里生产出热销的产品。 仿佛还是昨天的事：20年前，在城市里的姑娘们突然对一种折叠伞如醉如痴。谁要是手中有把花色小折叠伞，便是一种可以在别人面前显耀的本钱。记得有一次我从云南边境花了20多元买了一把带给了在北京的女朋友，她单位的小姐妹们见后嫉妒死了。但之后没几年，中国大陆的市场上便到处有了各式各样色彩鲜艳的小花布折叠伞。而给中国人创造这美丽世界的竟是我们的义乌农民，这就是在义乌无人不晓的九联村制伞专业户们。九联村龚姓居多，十几年前，村民龚益民、龚昌金等龚氏兄弟看到南方一带的城市姑娘爱随身带一把花布折叠伞，雨天晴天都能用得上，便回村一商议，办起了一个制伞厂。不多日，小花布折叠伞就在廿三里一带市场上卖开了，客商像疯了似的抢着要货。于是小制伞厂变成了大制伞厂，一个厂变成了5个10个厂。不到两年，全村80多家农户在农闲时一半以上参与加工折叠伞。由于九联村的花布折叠伞在市场上销路好，自1994年起，全村人全部投入了制伞业，即使这样，他们的生意仍供不应求，因为每年市场需要他们500多万把伞的生产量。现今的九联村不仅自己成了制伞基地，周围的几个村子也成了他们的联营户。有人曾计算过：中国现在每年的折叠伞，市场销量在1000万把左右，而从义乌出品的则达95％，从九联村一带出品的占了其中的90％以上。你看，常常是义乌人的一个小小的动作，竟给中国这么大的市场带来某种革命性的冲击！以花布折叠伞为例，十几年前的每一把这样的小伞市场价在20多元，现今在义乌市场上三四元钱一把就可以成千成万地批发到，这不是革命性的变化又是什么呢？ 真不要小看了义乌人的“鸡毛换糖”精神。 在中国乃至世界的商业史书中，专家们几乎通病般喜欢记述昨天的徽商和今天的比尔·盖茨式的传奇与业绩，但我以为应该在今后的世界商学史中加进摇“拨浪鼓”的义乌人的“鸡毛换糖”经商精神。在我看来，影响中国封建经济的徽商和影响今日世界的比尔·盖茨固然值得我们作为座右铭来推进未来的市场经济革命，但在中国这样的一个发展中国家，发扬“鸡毛换糖”的经商精神似乎更显得重要，更显得有中国特色与符合中国国情。 千千万万义乌人前赴后继地摇动拨浪鼓，不懈地进行着“鸡毛换糖”，其市场意义的理论价值非同小可。它可以视为中国的一种固有的民族精神，也是中国人朴素勤劳的美德遗风。“鸡毛换糖”在一定程度上既是人类最原始的交易取值方式，同时又是现实时代人们渴望倡导的敬业体现。有一种简单的理解：先不论我们已经比较富裕的今天，即使是在我们谁的手头都比较拮据时，有人可以厚着脸皮去讨饭，或者干脆冒着胆子去偷去抢，但很少有人愿意学着义乌人的样，挑着货郎挑，摇着拨浪鼓，专在别人欢声笑语的喜庆节日里出远门、走长路；每每论说生意，有人总会夸口要赚大把大把的钱，却从不愿像义乌人走百里、上高坡地去依靠“鸡毛换糖”挣回那一分两分的脚力钱。许多专家在考证义乌小商品市场之后常常感叹：为什么一无地理优势、二无产业特色的义乌人能创下震惊世界的奇迹？左说右说的论点很多，但没有哪一条叫板叫到点子上，原因就在于我们的理论家们无法深刻地理解和感受义乌人在“鸡毛换糖”中所磨铸的本质东西。一句话，没干过拨浪鼓手，焉能懂得“鸡毛换糖”之奥秘和甘苦所在。不懂得这一点，自然也就无法真正弄得清义乌市场发展的内在动力是什么。 “鸡毛换糖”有着深刻和无限的商业奥秘与精神实质，只有在久摇拨浪鼓的旋律中才能细细品出它的独特性与深刻性。 对义乌人和义乌市场来说，廿三里是一个特殊而又不可抹去的里程碑，它不仅缔造了拨浪鼓和“鸡毛换糖”，更重要的是它在新的历史时期为形成义乌中国小商品城奠定了基础。如果我们把义乌农民在20世纪末所进行的伟大实践，看做是中国农民运用邓小平理论，在我国社会主义初级阶段所进行的市场经济的成功实践，那么，廿三里走过的路则是这种伟大实践的缩影。 廿三里，当我着意再一次满怀情感迈步在那条百米老街时，我仿佛听到脚下无数块青砖都在隆隆发响。啊，那是千千万万个拨浪鼓手在向苦难的历史告别发出的铿锵步履和向往新生活的怦怦心跳声。啊，当我的脚步轻轻移动在那每一块青砖石块时，分明再一次清晰地感受到，那一条条缝隙间流淌的，正是义乌人几百年来向命运奋争所付出的成吨成吨的血与泪；而踏步在老街尽头那小桥头的级级台阶时，我分明意识到义乌人在建立社会主义市场经济和奔小康过程中所肩负的沉重。 我忘不了有人告诉我：在那割“尾巴”的年代，有一妇女想上街用自己的长辫去换几盒“蛤蜊油”途中，一群造反派丧心病狂地抢走了她心爱的长辫后向她扔下一堆唾沫，并骂道：“见鬼去吧，臭资产阶级分子！” 我忘不了有人告诉我：当有个农民第一次提着自家的母鸡上街想为新出生的儿子换几块稍稍柔软的尿布时，突然一群“打击投机倒把办公室”人员将他拉进一间黑屋责问，而胆小的他竟然吓得当场小便失禁…… 我忘不了有人告诉我：那年的一个风雪之夜，有位“地富反坏右”子女刚把几盘“义乌青”糖块和货郎担备好，几个打砸抢分子带着棍棒和手电不由分说地横冲直撞进门，将那副未挪窝的货郎担和青竹做成的拨浪鼓，连同其主人一起砸得皮开肉绽…… 我更忘不了冯爱倩说的：“有一次上苏州没有进到货，我就改道到上海，终于费了九牛二虎之力将货进到后，老天下起了大雨。为赶路，我便冒雨挑着担子上火车站。哪知车上人很多，车厢挤得水泄不通。车门进不去，我便想扒窗子。可当时衣服湿，手也湿，车身也湿，我攀着车窗刚往上挣扎，手突然一滑，我的整个身子像小泥袋一样重重地摔在铁轨上，头也摔破了一层皮，疼得怎么也动弹不得。可眼看火车快要开了，我不顾一切地跳起来伸出双手再一次扒住车窗，但我还是钩不住，因为我的手是滑的，车也是滑的，可火车则在隆隆启动，我当时真的眼泪哗哗往外流，就在这时，是车上的好心人伸手将我拉了上去……等火车到了嘉兴，我透过车窗见也是经商在外的我们义乌的楼香云等4个妇女，正在站台上焦急万分地一边嚷一边跺着脚，个个全身淋得像落汤鸡。我心头一阵酸痛，忙伸出双手招呼她们。我一手接过她们的货担，一手抓住她们的胸前衣襟，拼着全身力气将她们一个个拉进车厢。楼香云她们上气不接下气地倒在车厢内脸色苍白，刚开口就哇地嚎啕大哭起来，那情景我至今想起便想哭……” 我更忘不了朱关龙说的：“那是1985年正月，我同堂弟楼桂贤和楼华明一起到温州进货。由于春节刚过，在温州一时找不到货源，于是我们又回到以往落脚的永嘉一带寻找货源。我们搭乘的是一辆机动三轮车。那三轮车刚开出不到十分钟，突然与迎面驶来的一辆大客车顶头相撞，我当时只听耳边一声巨响，随后是身子翻了个个儿，便不省人事了……当我清醒过来、从倒地的车厢爬出时，第一眼便看到我的堂弟一动不动地倒在一边，他的嘴上和鼻子边直冒鲜血。坏了，堂弟他死了！我的最初反应就是这个。还有楼华明呢？我转头一看：楼华明正痛苦地呻吟着指指他的腿：快快，我的右腿不行了！我一看，他的脚不多不少，被扭了个180度。我想起了自己曾在部队学过医的，便迅速上前抱住他的腿，来了个扭正动作。老天有眼，还真的成功了！当我再回头时，发现堂弟的身子轻轻地扭动了一下，啊，他还活着！还活着！我悲喜交加地一边告诉楼华明，一边开始上路招呼过路的车子，请他们帮忙搭救我奄奄一息的堂弟。可……可我太失望太痛苦了，从我身边至少驶过了十多辆车子，他们没有一个人愿意搭救我们，我眼看着倒在血泊中的堂弟带着对生命的无限眷恋痛苦地离开了人间。当时我的堂弟年仅25岁，原定正月十五完婚，可为了生意而被意外的事故夺去了生命。多少年来，每每想起那一幕，我的心总难平静，因为春节，我求了好多人想把堂弟的遗体运回义乌，却在很长时间里找不到愿意拉尸体的人，我为此伤心了好久好久……” 我更忘不了卢浩说的：“我父亲原在国民党军队当过中校教官，1949年在杭州投诚，经过党和政府教育，被留在人民解放军南京军事院校任教。在极'左'年代，我父亲阴差阳错被打成'历史反革命分子'，于1965年病逝。他老人家一死了事，而我却从此成了'罪人'。'反革命狗崽子'成了我儿时的别名。长大了，没人愿意嫁给我这样的'坏蛋'，无奈我跟自己的表妹结婚，对此我从没后悔过，然而有人却连生活的权利都要从我这儿剥夺。村上的人可以出去摇拨浪鼓，我却不能，似乎放我一出去就会跑台湾去。'十年浩劫'结束了，我也由'狗崽子'变成了与别人一样的可以行使正当权利的公民了。可在最初的开放年份里，一切变化都在非常非常的沉重之中。村上的人都开始经商做小买卖，我学着也捣鼓起来，可刚一动手，背后的'枪手'就来了。那年，队上分给我1200元的政府征地费。苦了快半辈子的人了，我也想学着大伙的样做起买卖。于是我到杭州边的一个地方进了1200双袜子，下午坐火车回义乌。那时车站上的'打击投机倒把'的便衣检查人员到处隐伏。我刚把200双一包的袜子从车窗递给妻子，突然几个彪形大汉从我妻子的背后冲上前来，扭住我妻子的胳膊。我一看吓坏了，慌忙将头缩回车厢内，随即脱下外衣，又转换了一个座位。我知道不这样做的话，马上就会面临厄运。果不其然，几个便衣检查人员迅速登上车厢，逐一搜查，好在我若无其事地装着与一位乘客聊天，才未被认出。可等检查人员下车时，我摸摸自己的衣襟，早已湿了一片——那是冷汗呀！我好怕好怕，怕得不知如何处置：是下车还是怎么着？我心头只有一个念头：绝不能让我全家的1200元货物泡汤！就在我不知如何是好的时候，车开了，开到了另一个地方，我又急又怕，这时一个好心的乘客帮了我，使我在半途跳车逃下了火车。我终身难忘的是那个再不能黑的夜晚。当我一脚高一脚低地摸着回到家门时，妻子'哇'的一声哭得差点背过气。她告诉我：来搜家的人刚走十几分钟……第二天一早，我就被叫到车站候车室一个房子内受审。他们的第一句话就是：把你弃农经商搞资本主义的罪行交代出来！瞧，那时候做点小买卖有多难、多心悸啊！从'坦白从宽，抗拒从严'的小屋子出来后，我的后背就像多长了两只眼睛，时不时地要往后看看有没有人在后面盯着。妻子劝我说有什么怕的，咱一没偷二没抢，让我再去街上卖袜。我就是不愿去，她偏让我去。最后我只好去，当我战战兢兢提着一包袜子上到街头刚放下正准备吆喝，我又一下目瞪口呆：几个'打击投机倒把'人员像铁面包公似的站在了面前……我怕，我真的想如果不是后来党的政策开放，我现在恐怕早已得神经病了，咱义乌人做买卖的开始时期，没有几个不像这样天天是在心惊肉跳的情况下出外摇拨浪鼓，做小买卖的……” 在我去拨浪鼓故乡的那一天，廿三里镇正在举行一个特殊的表彰会，几十名自动出资捐助政府修路的农民披红戴绿、手持镜框，从崭新的镇政府大楼里走出。当我得知此情况时很想上前采访一下这些无私为公益事业作贡献的农民兄弟。但我始终未上前打扰哪一位，原因是廿三里镇女党委书记告诉我，她这儿的大多数公路都是农民自己集资兴建的。开始我心头有些疙瘩，想是不是这里“坑害”农民的现象很严重？女书记大笑起来，说这可是你们太不了解咱义乌人了。她说我们义乌在处理农民利益问题上在全国也是做得比较好的，从不在利益问题上坑害农民，恰恰因为在政策和制度上这么多年来始终坚持了正确的方向，农民才真正富裕了起来。而富裕了的农民今天他们又主动自愿地出钱出力来支持政府搞基础建设和公益事业。比如像最近镇政府为了进一步加强当地的投资环境，决定修建一条新交通要道，由于政府一下拿不出那么多钱，当农民们知道后，主动组织起来进行捐献，300多万元没几天就集齐了。女书记自豪地说：“在义乌，农民们在做生意上一分一厘会算，但对支持公益事业上也是最大方的，几千元几万元甚至几十万几百万地拿出来不眨一下眼，而且是作为一种荣耀。我相信，因为在去年的那场大洪水过后的捐助活动中，义乌农民的捐款数额在全省是最高的，如果人均计算恐怕在全国农民中也是最多的。有位农民一个人就捐了10万元。” 这就是义乌人。他们的每一次举手投足都叫人心服口服，都叫人难以置信，然而我们更多的是缺少了解他们每一次举手投足时所经历的非凡。This is the most important. “廿三里市场后来因为人越来越多，再加上由于受改革开放不断深入的影响，我们义乌的多数出外做小生意的拨浪鼓手，此时已经感到传统的'鸡毛换糖'远不如直接做其他的生意收益好了，特别是那些经常跑广州、上海方向的人，更感到摇几个月拨浪鼓，不如走两趟广州、上海贩点小商品赚得多。再就感到廿三里毕竟是小镇，离火车站、离县城又远，很不适合做买卖，于是摇了几百年拨浪鼓的义乌人，从此放下'鸡毛换糖'的活计，把注意力放在了做各类小商品买卖上。在告别廿三里老街的旧市场时，我们小镇上曾经出现了齐山村的一户农民用了两台拖拉机把全家积存的1吨多重'鸡毛换糖'而赚来的硬币，拉到信用社储蓄。银行为此发动了全体工作人员整整数了5天，才把这两拖拉机的硬币数清，总共是43439元！” 在我临别廿三里时，村支书朱有富别有一番感触地向我透露了当地的这一传闻。这个真实的传闻，虽然是在无意间听说的，但它在我心头却占了很大的空间，因为我不止一次在品味拥有1吨多重硬币的主人在平时是如何积存它的，而当这些辛辛苦苦积存下来的硬币被满满地装上两台拖拉机驶向信用社的路上时，其主人该是怎样的一种心态呢？虽然因为时间关系我没能采访到这位存硬币的农民，但从他一家一户所拥有的如此多的硬币以及他最终毫不犹豫地将其存入银行的那一瞬间，我们似乎可以感受到义乌人独特的积财方式和从商的决断行为，那是十分叫人钦佩和深思的。 许多精神是可以学习得到的，而许多精神又是无法学习得到的。义乌过去创造的“鸡毛换糖”从商方式流传了几百年，使在一方贫瘠土地上繁衍生息的骆氏后代得以传宗接代。今天他们继承和发扬“鸡毛换糖”的精神，在建立农村市场经济中谱写新的乐章，具有深刻而不朽的宝贵精神财富。 就在被如今的义乌人视为“中国小商品市场”奠基者的谢高华书记到任义乌前夕，义乌县城所在的稠城街头便开始有了一群群做小买卖的生意人。这中间有上面提到的冯爱倩、何海美、金莲珠等人，他们都是义乌市场的第一代经商者。这些人中间我们不得不提到另一位人物，他便是黄昌根——现今义乌市场里绝对的大亨。 黄昌根也干过“鸡毛换糖”的事，而且是廿三里市场上最早的客户之一。但因为黄昌根是“地主狗崽子”，生产队不发他外出从商的证明，于是他只好在家摇他的拨浪鼓。而正是这种非人性的压迫使这位具有经商天才的农家汉子饱受痛楚。在今天千千万万个义乌经商者中，上一点年岁的都知道和了解黄昌根这个人，因为在义乌所有经商者的眼里，早期的黄昌根是受苦最多的一个。他母亲是解放前的“地主小老婆”——解放后改嫁了还当了“好人”，所以这就决定了黄昌根要比别人更往下低头；他黄昌根多才多艺、聪明过人，因而也就决定了在那个特定年代里他要比别人更多地碰上倒霉的事。那年他实在脚痒也想偷着出去“鸡毛换糖”，可老天不作美，在经过一条山溪时，滂沱的大雨唤来咆哮的山洪，挑着货郎担的黄昌根只觉脚底一滑，连人带担掉进了滔滔而去的山洪激流之中，当时他唯一的知觉是：这次是死定了。但上帝没有让其过早地结束苦难，一位卖山货的人路过时搭救了他……黄昌根因此认定“大难不死，必有后福”。可哪来福呀？他听说廿三里市场上能做小买卖，于是手巧心灵的他便在自个儿家里办起一个小作坊——其实就是在家门前挪出一块空地，做黄泥哨子。这种不用任何本钱的事正好适合他黄昌根做。黄泥哨在当时对小朋友们来说是很受欢迎的一种玩艺，只要有力气和手巧就能制作，经黄昌根十个指头来回掐掐捏捏，一把把小哨子就成了，而且他一天竟能做500个这样的小哨。“快来买啊，一分钱一个！”黄昌根哪敢在市上把这些泥巴做的小玩意卖高价？他把自己的劳动与智慧压到了最低点，没想到这些小玩意大受欢迎，毕竟一分钱能买到一样东西，再穷的人也不会在乎这么便宜的买卖。黄昌根呢，回家一点钱，整整5块哪！他想我在家挣工分一天也就几毛钱，这几毛钱与5块钱之间的差异可非同一般呀！黄昌根望着门前的一堆黄泥巴乐得合不拢嘴，而就在这一瞬间，他的心灵深处从此牢牢根植下了要出去做生意的坚定信念。但黄昌根想不到他的生意越兴旺自己的命运就会越倒霉。“地主狗崽子”搞“资本主义”肯定是罪加一等。一天，“革命领导小组”来了一群人把他的家特别是门前那个制作黄泥哨的家什搅了个翻天，最后留下一句话：“你要是再干，就准备再在批斗大会上下跪吧！”黄昌根心想，下跪的日子太多了，我又不是没跪过，但要让我瞅着5块钱一天的生意白白闲过去，那怕是难了。这不，不让“狗崽子”干了，可左邻右舍的老百姓们闲不住呀。捏黄泥哨的活儿大伙都学会了，可没有人会做那模具。于是东家出5块钱请黄昌根做一个，西家又出5块钱请黄昌根再做一个模具。哈，黄昌根乐死了：不到半小时做一个模具赚5块钱，比自己上街卖小哨子还来钱呀！黄昌根真是因祸得福着实赚了一大笔——当然，邻居们也没有少赚。这是1966年至1970年之间的事。黄昌根那时正是少年，脑子聪明好使，看到卖泥哨子的人多了，他便翻着花样卖老鼠药。两分钱一包的磷化锌，经他一加工药性不改价值却变成了两元，升值99倍。那时正值“抓革命，促生产”的形势下，杀老鼠和斗“地富反坏右”同是农村斗争的重点，黄昌根因此常常