Riding the wind of rebirth

Seeing this, Zhou Zhi finally couldn't help it, picked up the phone and dialed a long-distance number for the Suzhou Jade Carving Factory.

Master Zhu must have been waiting for Zhou Zhi's call, and when he heard Zhou Zhi shouting excitedly, he laughed out loud like a child who had succeeded in a prank.

Zhou Zhi was an expert, and Zhu Qinghong was not worried at all that he would not be able to see the value of this sculpture. This had created a new category of stone carving, and with this bonus, Zhu Qinghong had almost stepped into the ranks of grand masters.

The title of "Master" is not something that has been randomly touted by later generations. It is a national title awarded to domestic arts and crafts creators by the department of the State Council responsible for the protection of traditional arts and crafts. It is the highest honor for arts and crafts workers.

So far, the country has only held three selection sessions. The first session was in 1979, with 33 people; the second session was in 1988, with 63 people; and the third session was held the year before last, with 64 people.

That is to say, up to now, there are only more than 150 people who can be called masters in all arts and crafts categories in the country.

Even so, this classification is still considered too rough. In ten years or so, it will be replaced by another system, which is the formal title of arts and crafts artist.

In this professional title system, arts and crafts workers will be divided into arts and crafts masters, senior (researcher level) arts and crafts artists, senior arts and crafts artists, arts and crafts artists, assistant arts and crafts artists and arts and crafts workers.

Please note that the above must be national level, the quality of provincial level ones will be much worse.

Zhu Qinghong's skills are already very sophisticated. Although he was named a master of jade carving in 1993, he is still a little weak, mainly because his representative works are still lacking.

In the later professional title system, one can only be at the level of senior professor or researcher.

But now it is different. A type of stone suitable for carving has been discovered, and the craftsmanship has been further improved. According to the strict selection regulations of later generations, he has been firmly identified as a master of arts and crafts.

Of course Zhou Zhi couldn't wait to congratulate him.

Zhu Qinghong said with a smile: "Xiao Zhou, you are really a lucky member of our jade carving factory. If Tianhuang is rediscovered one day, it won't be surprising!"

"How is this possible?" Zhou Zhi couldn't help but laugh. "Sir, I think this furnace is no worse than the one made of hibiscus stone by Emperor Qianlong. Can we prepare to submit it for the award?"

"It's fine to submit the exhibition, but forget about the awards." Zhu Qinghong said on the other end of the phone.

"Ah? Why?" The exhibition and awards they were talking about here refer to the annual arts and crafts exhibition held by the Ministry of Light Industry every year, as well as the "Hundred Flowers Award".

Gold, silver, bronze and other awards will also be given to exhibits at the annual exhibition, but the weight of such awards can only increase the value of the exhibits and is not enough honor for the creators.

The Hundred Flowers Award is different. Its full name is the China Jade Hundred Flowers Award. It is the only national jade carving award and the highest award in China's arts and crafts community. It is highly authoritative.

If the exhibition awards are more like the pricing of precious commodities; then the Hundred Flowers Award can basically be regarded as the top award for creators.

Just like today's writers, if their works are published in People's Literature, they can be called "famous writers". If today's arts and crafts can be selected into the Hundred Flowers Award, the creator can also be called a national senior arts and crafts artist. In addition, some of the outstanding works selected by the Hundred Flowers Award will be collected in the China Arts and Crafts Treasure Museum, which is also a very high honor.

It is obvious that the Hundred Flowers Awards Exhibition is of a higher level than the Annual Arts and Crafts Exhibition. Now Zhu Qinghong said that he does not plan to use this lid stove to participate in the Hundred Flowers Awards, which makes Zhou Zhi a little puzzled.

"Because this is just a work we did to experiment with stone materials." Zhu Qinghong said, "I didn't expect it to be so well made and so festive!"

"In addition to this persimmon red, we found that the other type of stone you sent over, the one called 'cherry red', has better water head. In addition to being more challenging for carving skills and ideas, it can better express the subject matter. We are going to carve a set of cherry red works to submit for awards, and this cover furnace will be sent to the exhibition next year."

"There have been too many orders this year, and the factory's inventory is almost sold out. The manager keeps urging us to produce the products, which is really annoying."

"I really need to discuss this with Yao Jingyuan." Zhou Zhi said, "The works of these masters should be of a different level from others. Quality is more important than quantity. Just a few sets every year will do."

"Also, we can't sell all the fine products in the factory at once. We need to keep some good ones as our signature." Zhou Zhi suggested: "You should know that Tianhuang stone and chicken blood stone are hard to come by now. If you don't keep some of the good ones, even if you want to carve again in the future, you may not even have the mineral materials."

"We already have this problem now." Zhu Qinghong said worriedly, "Since the batch of Hetian seed materials you sent was sold, the price of Hetian jade has been rising rapidly. This year, news came from the Northern Xinjiang Arts and Crafts Museum that after each company sold out its inventory, it was discovered that it was almost impossible to get any larger seed materials."

Zhou Zhi had known about this a long time ago, but as God knows, the skyrocketing price of Hetian jade had nothing to do with him directly.

Just like jadeite was hyped up by the people from the island country, Hetian jade was also hyped up by the people from Hong Kong Island.

The culprit is of course the wealthy Li family.

To be precise, it is Li Qiyan.

Li Qiyan's reasons were very sufficient. Ever since Elbow gave my family a Hetian white jade Guanyin sculpture, both of my daughters-in-law have become pregnant.

The facts are right here, and you still want me to believe that this is superstition?!

For this purpose, Li Qiyan specially organized a joint exhibition of ancient and modern jade carvings in Hong Kong Island, which brought together ancient jade and modern Suzhou jade carvings collected by Hong Kong collectors, which caused quite a stir in Hong Kong Island.

However, most of the exhibits provided by the Suzhou Jade Carving Factory were Zhouzhi's custom-made ones, so Li Qiyan's plan of holding an exhibition and purchasing goods failed. Afterwards, the exhibits were sent to Taiwan, and Li Qiyan gained fame and popularity in vain.

Fortunately, it is not too late to mend the situation. The Suzhou Jade Carving Factory has a rich foundation, and there are also goods that have been sent to various crafts and art galleries over the years.

In addition to Suzhou University of Technology, Guangdong University of Technology and Beijing University of Technology also have their merits. Anyway, my daughter-in-law is an expert in arts and crafts, so I can just ask her to help me buy goods in China.

  But Li Qiyan forgot to consider two points: first, who is he? Second, what will the people of Hong Kong do after they know his actions?

The answer is very simple. First, Li Qiyan is the weathervane of Hong Kong Island. Second, there are many wealthy people in Hong Kong Island, such as Jie Xicheng, who bought houses in the mainland in his early years. Their art consultants like to suggest two words: follow the trend. (End of this chapter)