National Tide 1980

The most famous lanterns in Beijing are palace lanterns.

Palace lanterns are unique products of palace decoration.

The production of palace lanterns in the Qing Dynasty was under the unified management of the Manufacturing Office of the Imperial Palace Household Office, and craftsmen were called into the imperial city when necessary.

Even to this day, the Yangxin Hall, Kunning Palace, Changchun Palace and Summer Palace in the Forbidden City all have artifacts from that time hanging on them.

Just like the palace lanterns in Tingli Pavilion and Beihai Fangshan, most of them are old things.

What to do with the shortcomings? What about the maintenance of these palace lanterns?

It doesn't matter, there are manufacturers of exclusive palace lanterns in Beijing.

Although the factory disappeared for a time in history, it was converted to produce electronic components in 1969 and was renamed Jingcheng Component No. 7 Factory.

However, in 1972, with the need for foreign currency exchange for the country's export products, the production of palace lanterns and other handicrafts was resumed.

The factory was once again renamed Jingcheng Art Red Light Factory.

It's just that one means one, and two means two.

Although this art red light factory has been able to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars in foreign exchange every year since the 1950s.

At the same time, it is also responsible for the business of maintaining the existing palace lanterns in the royal gardens of the capital, and even the business of making red gauze lanterns for Tiananmen Square.

But the most glorious time for this factory was in 1957, when it had 382 employees and had a capital of 140,000 yuan.

Nowadays, just because the demand for domestic business is too small and the foreign trade gap is too tight, it is completely unpopular with the Light Industry Bureau.

In addition, there are fewer and fewer veteran artists. After retirement, it is impossible to recruit people.

The size of the factory has been reduced to less than 60 people, almost like a workshop.

It is said that Wang Xiaoer is celebrating the New Year, and every year is not as good as the previous year. I am afraid that it will be suspected of beautification.

But in turn, the burden is quite heavy.

Secretary Hu Kuanfu and factory director Xu Pingzhi have to play hide-and-seek with the old workers who ask them to reimburse their medical expenses all day long.

I also have to worry about various expenses in the factory and deal with the abacus repeatedly.

Even they themselves have to set an example by being diligent and frugal, which would be a miserable situation!

Let alone eating and drinking with public funds.

The only tea they can get from the factory, the standard has dropped to two yuan and a pound of flower triangle.

(Note: Flower Triangle is the tea leaves that are screened out during the rolling process, and the quality is poor)

This is thanks to the oversupply of tea this year and the price reduction.

Otherwise, you won’t be able to afford scented tea, and you’ll have to switch to southern tea that no one likes to drink.

No problem, he is still a leader after all, and he has an identity here.

You can't drink the "high end" that's so broken that you can't watch it. It's a joke, isn't it?

Especially on Monday, June 6th.

Both the secretary and the factory director were told bad news as soon as they entered the factory.

We ran to the warehouse together and worried about the roof.

It rained last night. Not only did the roof leak, but half of the gable fell down.

Of course this needs to be fixed? But where does the money come from?

Wages have just been paid, and the factory's finances are at their most strained. They can't even find the money to buy bricks and tiles.

If we don’t repair it, it’s easy to talk about other things in this house. The key thing is what to do with the “Hundred Flowers Stamping Lamp” that was made last year?

That big two-meter-tall guy was the apprentice of the famous modern palace lantern craftsman "Ball Lantern Han". The last work left to the factory by two skilled old workers when they were about to retire.

The lamp holder is a large flower basket carved from mahogany, and the entire basket is carved with various flowers such as magnolia, chrysanthemum, plum blossom, and crabapple in full bloom. The lamp is inlaid with a painted glass screen, and six small magnolia lamps are mounted on the flower basket.

The lamppost is partially embossed with traditional patterns, and the lower end is engraved with four lions playing with hydrangeas, and the lion's claws form the base of the lamp.

I did it so exquisitely just so that I could catch up with some important events in the future and earn some face for the factory.

They can't live up to this intention.

If there is really going to be another storm, what will happen if the wind blows it and the rain bubbles break?

What's more, if it is not repaired, there is a risk that the entire wall and half of the roof will collapse, which is related to production safety.

Don't say it, maybe it's a good day and I really got lucky.

Just when the secretary and the factory director were facing each other and frowning and sighing, something happened to them.

It's similar to someone bringing you a pillow when you want to sleep, but the money comes to them on its own.

Section Chief Zhang of the Business Department took the two guests to the door of the warehouse and shouted inside.

"Secretary Hu, Director Xu, someone is looking for..."

"Oh, here we come." Factory director Xu Pingzhi responded and was about to walk out.

Unexpectedly, the two outsiders had already walked in on their own, and Section Chief Zhang could only follow up.

"You are?"

Xu Pingzhi looked at the two young men he had never seen before in confusion. Both of them were wearing half-sleeved shirts, trousers and leather shoes. They had watches in their hands and held leather briefcases.

At first glance, he seems to be the kind of person who lives a healthy and decent life.

Unexpectedly, they were all very polite. One said, "You are Director Xu? My name is Qiao Wanlin. I am from the Comprehensive Management Section of the District Service Bureau. We want to open a palace-style restaurant in our district and we need a lot of palace lanterns. Isn't this right?" We are here to ask for help from our factory.”

The other one just handed over the cigarette.

And he obviously knew that the warehouse was an important place, so he only took out and handed cigarettes to show respect.

He didn't smoke a cigarette himself, nor did he get angry.

"I am the manager of the palace restaurant under preparation, Ning Weimin. You can just call me Xiao Ning. We came here presumptuously and caused trouble for you. But after all, this is our own business in the district. We still need the full help of our factory ah……"

It’s just that the words are nice, the key is that the pomp is astonishing.

Xu Pingzhi was shocked when he found out that the cigarette he was handed was from Greater China.

One stick of this stuff can hold up to a pack of ordinary Class C cigarettes.

He immediately knew that the other party had a lot of background, and quickly went to recruit Hu Kuanfu.

"Lao Hu, these two are comrades from the district. You should also come and meet..."

But Hu Kuanfu was still a little unhappy because of troubles.

Besides, Qiao Wanlin didn't reveal that his position was section chief.

So the secretary was not in the mood at all and just looked at the ruins without even looking back.

"Isn't it just a palace lantern? First ask them if they have the procedures? If not, we can't control it. Let them go to Wangfujing and order from the Art and Crafts Service Department."

Unexpectedly, a sentence came from behind him immediately.

"Are you Secretary Hu? Don't worry, we have special approval procedures from the district and can contact the manufacturer directly. It's easy to get invoices from the commercial outlet. Let's discuss the price, and then I'll just say hello to the district commerce bureau. We I will give you the money, and they will just add a number, and they will cooperate with us to complete the procedures at both ends..."

Oops! This is awesome!

Special approval from the district? Can the Commerce Bureau instigate action?

And the money is given here...

Wouldn’t this solve the thorny problem at hand?

Hu Kuanfu quickly turned his head, his face gentle and his enthusiasm rising.

Of course, Xu Pingzhi was no slower to react than him.

The factory director was also aware of the key issue and couldn't wait to inquire about the details first.

"Oh, this is great. How many palace lanterns do you want? What size and style?"

Qiao Wanlin hesitated and said, "In terms of quantity, I'm afraid it should be at least a hundred. As for the size and style... all we can confirm so far is that the color should not be red, but bright yellow. For the rest, I really don't have any clear ideas."

Then he looked around, "Do we have many styles here? I've only seen the hexagonal palace lanterns, the ones hung in Beihai Fangshan and Tingli Hall. Is there anything better than them in our factory?"

I heard that the amount of this job is not bad, and it should cost at least 18,000 yuan.

It is estimated that even if the gable is repaired, the remaining amount will be enough to cover the entire factory's salary for two months.

Xu Pingzhi was full of energy and immediately threw out knowledge like a cross talk speaker.

"Oh, then you are asking. We have too many types of lamps here. The shapes include round, oval, square, hexagonal, rhombus, fan-shaped, pentagonal, hexagonal, octagonal, and set. Square, basket-shaped, fish-shaped, bottle-shaped, gourd-shaped, petal-shaped, silver ingot-shaped, ring-shaped, pavilion-shaped, etc.”

"Look, there are no lights in this room. They are basically square lamps. Just to accommodate this big thing, the style in this library is relatively simple. They are easy to stack against the wall. There are also some lamps for the elderly. Old things. In fact, there are many more complicated styles than what is in this room, but they are all in other storages."

"Of course, you are right. The shapes of orthodox palace lanterns are mostly octagonal, hexagonal or tetragonal. But judging from the content of the lantern paintings, they are quite different. There are blessing lanterns, longevity lanterns, double happiness lanterns, great luck lanterns, Changfang Sheng Lamp, Pisces Lamp, Songhe Lamp, Baizi Lamp, Ten Thousand Evergreen Lamp, Wanshou Boundless Lamp, Orb Lamp, World Peace Lamp, Universal Celebration Lamp, Gold and Jade Full Hall Lamp, Eight Treasures Auspicious Lamp, as well as "Auspicious Ruyi", "Dragon and Phoenix Presentation" "Xiang" and other themed lamps with auspiciousness, good fortune, longevity and so on..."

Okay, just this big set, it comes out loud and clear.

Qiao Wanlin and Ning Weimin were almost dumbfounded by this. They were no less shocked than Secretary Hu, who had just taken over Greater China from Ning Weimin.

For this reason, Hu Kuanfu glanced at his old partner with satisfaction, and then coughed.

"This is so inconvenient. Lao Xu, I think we should take these two to look at the products of our factory and talk while we look at them. Well, should we go to the office to look at the photos? Or should we go to the next door warehouse room by room first? Turn around?"

It should be said that Hu Kuanfu quickly regained his composure as secretary, and this idea was quite right.

But no one expected that just when everyone was about to move, Ning Weimin urgently stopped and raised objections.

"Don't worry, I haven't seen the things in this room yet. The old things are so good, I just like old things..."

As he spoke, he walked to the corner of the room and picked up a copper four-corner palace lantern from the shelf. There was another one on the same style shelf.

But no matter which one there was, there was a thick layer of dust, the painted lanterns on the lanterns were old and out of shape, and the canopy and base of the palace lanterns were gone.

But what is rare is that the copper work on the main body of the palace lantern is exquisite, and it looks like an old thing from a long time ago.

Ning Weimin blew the ashes and asked, "Is this lamp good? Why do you just leave it here to eat dirt?"

"Hey, even though you are an outsider, you have really good eyesight. These lamps are the two oldest ones we have here. It turns out there are four of them. They were made by Mi Wanzhong, a famous lamp maker in the capital during the Yongzheng period, for a prince's palace. Yes. There is no such thing as copper work. It is difficult for people nowadays to catch up. It has always been the appearance of our four-cornered palace lanterns. It is a pity that it was not a 'movement' later. Two of the four lanterns were smashed and all were taken away. Sold for scrap metal. An old worker of ours managed to recover these two from the scrapyard. Unfortunately, the lid and bottom are gone. Repair it, it will be a waste of money, but it will be a pity if you don't repair it. Hey, anyway It's almost like trash, no, just throw it here..."

Xu Pingzhi said slightly frustrated, but he didn't expect Ning Weimin to ask him again.

"Then if you keep this lamp and it's no longer useful, let's discuss it and sell it to me after repairing it, okay?"

"Selling you? I'm really not bragging to scare you. It's just these two lamps, they're expensive!"

Xu Pingzhi felt happy and seemed to think that Ning Weimin was whimsical.

"Palace lanterns generally use carved bamboo, carved wood as the skeleton, or carved lacquer as the frame, and then inlaid with silk yarn, glass or horn pieces. On top are painted landscapes, figures, flowers and birds, insects and fish, ancient cultural relics, drama stories, etc. . Some add a canopy above the lampshade. Various styles of pendants and pendants are hung under the lamp. What makes this lamp unique is not only that it has an exquisitely engraved copper lamp body, but also that auspicious treasures are hung around the lampshade. , tassels and necklaces are not ordinary things. You can't just use a tassel to fool you. The top of the canopy is also inlaid with exquisitely carved jade or white jade. So these two lamps are really repaired, but it takes a lot of effort. I'm afraid the price is not It's a few thousand dollars. What do you want this for? Let's not joke..."

Who knew Ning Weimin was still so excited? "How many thousand? Tell me..."

Xu Pingzhi got a little angry when he saw how aggressive the young man was, so he simply yelled a big number.

"Five thousand!"

Unexpectedly, the people of Ningwei knelt and refused to fight. Instead of retreating despite the difficulties, they defeated an entire army.

"No problem! But does it count for you alone? And where is Secretary Hu? Do you both agree to this price?"

Where is the consultation here?

Secretary Hu shook his head just to make Xu Pingzhi lose face. This was clearly a disguised attempt to force him into the palace.

But Secretary Hu is still young after all. He has been the leader for many years, but he will not give in so easily.

He laughed, not saying he agreed or disagreeing, but he went around in circles and treated the other person the same way.

"Young man, you are so heroic. You want to ask my opinion? How about I recommend two better palace lanterns to you? You must be able to pay for these two lanterns. Then I really have to On behalf of our factory, thank you for helping us save significant property damage."

As he said that, he walked to the shelves and rummaged through them. Finally, with the help of Section Chief Zhang of the Business Department, he dug out two more old lamps from the innermost pile of debris.

Not to mention, these two lamps are indeed more gorgeous because they are made of enamel filigree.

The color is bright, the light is delicate and soft, and the shape of the object is generally complete.

The most special thing is the shape, which is like a pavilion.

And it's not a chandelier, it has a base and can be placed on countertops or lamp posts.

But the most severe damage was that the two lanterns had no colored paintings.

Moreover, the enamel filigree lamp body is full of pits.

Things that were obviously embedded in the past were roughly picked away.

Xu Pingzhi smiled again when he saw the two lights. He obviously admired Secretary Hu's methods and told Ning Weimin with confidence.

"Did you see it? We still have some good stuff in our factory. This is a copper-embedded filigree painted enamel glass pavilion style palace lantern. It was the treasure of our factory in the past. The craftsmanship of Xu Baizhai during the Qianlong period. He was a bannerman aristocrat and also a lantern maker for the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Master. This is definitely something that belongs to the imperial palace. No one else can make such a noble thing. It’s a pity that the lamp painting is completely ruined. The original painting was "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", which is particularly wonderful. Take a look again On this, all kinds of gemstones originally inlaid, such as cat's eye, tourmaline, emerald, sapphire, ruby, citrine... have been dug up. They were destroyed in a special era. We want to repair it, then You have to go to the jewelry factory to buy various gemstones. Do you still want this? I’m not unfair to you. If you want to buy it, I’ll give you at least 50,000 yuan to sell it to you. There’s only one pair like this in the world..."

As soon as he said this, he saw Qiao Wanlin next to him and covered his face with his palms.

Hu Kuanfu and Xu Pingzhi both thought they had scared him, and they immediately felt proud.

But where is it? Qiao Wanlin recently felt Ning Weimin's pulse. As soon as he heard about the "treasure of the factory" and "the only pair", he knew that Ning Weimin was probably going to "make a mistake".

As expected, following him, Ning Weimin also clapped his hands with joy and excitement in his mouth.

"That's it! I want it!"

ah? Fifty thousand! This...is this what it is? So easy?

Hu Kuanfu asked hurriedly, "Young man, are you listening correctly? We are talking about fifty thousand yuan, not five thousand..."

Unexpectedly, Ning Weimin laughed loudly, "Understood, four lamps, the total is fifty-five thousand, right? You two are sincere, and I am happy, so we won't bargain. Should I pay in cash or by check? Hey, but we As I said before, please take care of yourself and fix it for me!"

"Ah! You really want it!" Xu Pingzhi couldn't remain indifferent.

"So there's still a holiday? Why, Factory Director Xu can't bear to part with it?"

"That's not..." Xu Pingzhi murmured, "I just don't believe that someone really wants such an expensive thing. These are just a few lamps, and they are broken. Back then, when we offered less than half of the price, we just listened. The Oriole Pavilion was scared away, and even the Forbidden City was not willing to accept it. You...won't you regret it?"

The final winner was destined to be Ning Weimin, and he laughed.

"Don't worry, I won't regret it. By the way, I also want to ask, is the big guy in our house also a lamp? If so, how much do you want to sell it for?"

Pingzhi and Hu Kuanfu were not allowed to say anything else. Qiao Wanlin couldn't bear it. He shook his head helplessly.

"Wei Min, Wei Min, I'm begging you. Can you please stop doing this! You are really using your company's money as money! Let's talk about business first and put those hundred palace lanterns in place first, okay?"