Shoemaker Song Decai'S Needle Life

In the twilight years, due to the difference between personal disposition and life experience, there are different ways to find happiness and loneliness.

Song Decai, a 75 year old man living in downtown Friendship Road, takes care of his daily life by making shoes by hand.

Workshop of "original ecology"

The old man wore a pair of presbyopic glasses, squatting for half a day, making shoes by pins and thread, a basket of shoes, tongs, tongs, scissors, and a wax of a wound wound by lines.

The process of song master's shoe making is: beating, paste, paste, shoes, and last molding.

Occasionally someone with a double "bottom" to look for the door to ask him to process, the old man always lost his work in the hands of the old, strive for delivery as soon as possible, on a pair of big yards of cotton shoes, at least 150 needles, the elderly can be completed in 20 minutes, the needles are well proportioned, and then dried by wood last, the wrinkled cloth shoes become "round and full" up, wearing the feet very comfortable.

Through hard work

Speaking of why he would like to make shoes by hand, master Song told us about it.

In 1948, at home, Song Decai, who was 16 years old, was determined to go out in order to settle down.

He found a shoemaking workshop in Nanjing, found a guarantor and wrote a warranty, and began his apprenticeship career for 3 years. In the first two years, he used brooms, round pots, sleeping floors and errands to do odd jobs. In third years, the shop owner formally asked him to learn crafts, measuring feet, cutting and shoes.

After learning, he worked for half a year before returning to Yangzhou.

In xuning gate and Yuejin bridge, he picked up a load and made a shoe business. At that time, many people came to see him making shoes.

Yangzhou cloth shoes were popular overseas.

After the public-private partnership in 1957, a group of shoemakers such as Song Decai were gathered together to form a shoemaking cooperative. Later they were converted into workers' and peasants' shoe factories, Qionghua shoe factories and Yangzhou shoe factories. At the height of their prosperity, there were more than 2000 people in shoe factories. In the early 80s of last century, a large number of Yangzhou shoes were exported to foreign countries.

By the 90s of last century, leather shoes were popular, cloth shoes were not asked, shoes factories were down and closed, and a group of shoemakers had changed careers. Only a few of Song Decai and others still could not lose their old business.

Old shoes are also fashionable.

When customers come to the door and ask for shoes, he looks up and down, then asks the other person to take off his shoes and watch his feet and feet, which usually takes two to three days.

Most of the customers are mainly elderly people. Most of them want to make children's shoes and old cotton shoes.

Occasionally, there are young and middle-aged people who are attracted by the name: "do two pairs of shoes, the price does not care. If you want to paste the shoes or the sole of the shoe, can you wear it, don't worry about it, keep the collection, let us also experience the hard work of the older generation of craftsmen."