What Do You Remember About Leather Industry In Old Guangzhou?

One

"Shanzhai" is not necessarily a stream.

　　 Leather making Boots and shoes are said to come from the west, but in fact they are not. Ancient officials wore their boots (such as those called "Jim boots" by the Tang Dynasty) at the latest of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. As for the leather shoes made by people in southern Hunan because of rain and mud, they are simple, cheap and easy to wear. However, the styles and practices of leather shoes and leather boots that we wear now may have started before and after the Opium War in 1840.

The shoe and shoe workshop in this city is located in the double door store (today's middle Beijing Road) or the Hui AI Zhong Road (today's Zhongshan Road four and five). The people in the city (i.e. the new town) are gathered at Gaojie street and its nearby streets, where the West Guan people gather on the upper, lower nine roads and Baohua road. The workshop is commonly referred to as "Shanzhai", which is different from the shoe store. The former is a handicraft industry combination, and the latter is the selling shop. Therefore, "Shanzhai" can represent laborers, while shops represent capitalists.

The "Shanzhai" organization is very simple: father, son, brother, husband and wife can cooperate. Mentor, friends and clansmen can also work together and eat together. That is to say, individuals are independent of the "Zhai" (hanging signs). They do not have strict organization, and the signs often change, but the number is very large. There are more than twenty thousand people. These people are the "service providers" of the masses.

The famous "Shanzhai" includes: Han Bo, Xing Zhou, Huang Si Ji (or four records), Xu mark, Yan Chengji, fit foot, foot ANN, etc., not less than dozens, among which Han Bo and Xu Biao Ji are most famous. Han Bo's "host" surnamed Chen, mainly made of men's shoes, and Xu's label made many women's shoes. They are masters and masters, and naturally they can avoid competition. But their "Shanzhai" is located in Xiguan, where they are the best sellers of women's shoes.

There is no opinion about this. He always thinks about the style, sturdy and economical of his shoes, and even wants to adapt himself to the requirements of customers. How can I know that this big old gentleman, the young master and the appetite of a group of cute people? As a result, Han Po's shoes (especially leather shoes) are usually two or three more expensive than those of ordinary shoes, and more than one to more than half of them are still in short supply.

"The strong will not be weak soldiers", Xu Biao Ji also catch up with the footsteps of the master: shoes and leather shoes refined, to achieve the "exquisite fabric beauty" of the fields, so that Chen and Xu two master's products will be dominated by the Guangzhou city gate inside and outside, and spread in the various townships, counties, ports, and even abroad.

These two "Shanzhai" have such excellent products, naturally for the acquisition of shoes. Regardless of the nine roads, he Ming, Mei Si, foot an Zhai, Wu Zhiji, or Beijing, Mei Xin, Jian Xin, Ying Ying, Wan Zhang, Pei Zheng, Feng Shiji of Gao Di Street are all fighting to order the master and apprentice. Generally, the goods are clear and sometimes can be paid in advance so as not to let the good goods fall into the hands of his number. But Hang Bo and tags often do not care about the collection sooner or later, and even to the year (Dragon Boat Festival, Mid Autumn Festival, winter solstice) find countless, can be extended to the end of the year, if the shop has difficulties, can also extend until the beginning of spring to check out. In this way, the two "Shanzhai" is more popular and its scope is expanding. In the beginning, only two workers were accidentally added. After that, there were often ten people who were "partners in the stockaded village" and worked together under the lights all the time. But abacus precision merchants are only polite to Mr. Bo, and are very picky about the "Shanzhai". The soles are not strong enough, the shoes are not smooth, the lines are not smooth, the cushions are not stable, or the edges are slightly rough, the small ones are accusations, and the big ones are returned. And after delivery, payment is not made or part of the cash is paid in advance, and the rest must be paid after the goods are sold. In this way, the cost of workers becomes the foundation of their own profits, which must arouse great resentment among the workers.

As a result, the "cottage" simply sells on its own or even sells to the countryside, shortening the distance between the user and the user, and recovering the profits of the intermediate exploiter. Businessmen here, also set up their own workshop, and gradually pay on time, dare not bully people too much.

Two

　　 Handmade leather shoes The most valuable

In the past, workers made shoes by handicraft, without machines. Foreign shoe factories, organic leather shoes can save time, but spend a lot of material, and time is not as good as manual workers. Therefore, no matter whether the leather shoes brought back by overseas Chinese in Nanyang or the United States, Australia or Africa, or the leather shoes brought back by European students are only used for themselves or as gifts, the market is always unpopular.

Before the war of resistance against Japan, the shoe factories in Czech once sent people to the market to sell the goods, which set the price slightly lower than the market (about 5 yuan per pair). But the market is not good enough, and then it will not see its tracks again. This is an example of how the mechanism shoe is inferior to the hand shoe making.

This city has a "leather shoes hospital" (located at the interface between Zhongshan road five and Guangda Road), which is used to repair shoes by machine, because it is fast and novel, and can read and read books and shoes by sitting and polishing shoes, so its business is not bad. But the leather shoes made by the "hospital" are usually sold for exhibitions, but they are rarely seen in the sale. This is also one of the cases where mechanism shoes are not easy to seize shoes.

Since the end of the Qing Dynasty, the leather shoes of the mechanism should not be against the hand made leather shoes. Because of this, it becomes a trend. Then, what is the advantage of handmade leather shoes better than those of mechanism leather shoes?

First, leather shoes are easy to wear. It is soft and sticky, and has feet. It makes people feel compacted and not forced. It seems to be a mixture of skin and socks. But the foundation of the mechanism shoes is very heavy, the amount of pig skin used is too much, the hard top foot, the upper foot is cumbersome, and there is no soft pleasure.

Second, it is durable and easy to repair. A pair of shoes can be worn for two or three or four or five years. If they are broken up, they will be extended to the near future without any mechanism. The reason is that the shoemaking line is small and the lines used are smeared with white wax. When the worker pulls the thread, his mouth bites and his hand smokes. He always gets a hot sweat due to excessive exertion. This is that every line is sealed by white wax, and rainwater and sediment are extremely difficult to invade, because the shoes are tightly protected and not easily damaged. Unfortunately shoes are worn through holes, or cut off by sharp tools, so that they can be manually repaired. However, the mechanism of leather shoes wear holes in the line is large, there are many gaps outside the line, usually dust accumulation, long journey into the sand, rain water permeable stains, natural easy to bad. When it is repaired, it is difficult to be careful because of its internal loosening and threading, so its life expectancy will be shorter than that of hand shoes.

Third, it is cheap, because there is little material and no transportation fee or tariff plus (before liberation), so every pair of Medium leather shoes can be bought at about five or six yuan, and the better ones will be around ten yuan. As for the first-class goods, there are twenty or thirty yuan, that is, the nobles in leather shoes, and can not be compared with the popular products. But even at such a high price, the advantages of durable and good wearing are higher than those of the same price. Otherwise, the price of Chen Hengbo and Xu's products is still in short supply, though the price of the finished products is high. Although the leather shoes are quick to start and the international shoe patterns are varied, they are not equal to the advantages of the shoe making shoes. As a result, the mechanism of leather shoes general is inferior.

There is still an anecdote in the industry. During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, Liu Bao Xiang, a shoe mending worker in Xinzhou Township, Whampoa, traveled far away from the United States on the grounds of "difficult fishing in the world". In the western part of the United States, San Francisco, Losangeles and Seattle settled down. At first, he made shoes for his living. Later, he saw that the waste materials of shoes were almost everywhere. He bought them at the lowest price and made them into the market. Because of the low cost, the price is low and the sales are very easy. In recent years, a small shop has been built to make shoes as a name for shoes. After a few years, apart from supporting the family members in the country, they can also raise enough travel expenses and spend money on their passports so that their children can go to help them manage their business affairs. That is to say, Liu's father and son have made leather shoes, which is better than the products of the United States claiming to be "machine kingdom".

The hand made leather shoes made of this kind of waste are not only popular among Americans, but also popular at the London exhibition. Today, our hand-made leather shoes have been sold abroad more than ever before, and have earned a lot of foreign exchange for the government. It seems that this handicraft industry has a long history and a boundless future.

Three

Agate Lane interior paint Leather industry

Lacquer leather also has a glorious history in leather industry. In the early years of the Republic of China, after the introduction of foreign markets into the city of Guangzhou, some people copied it. During the "54" movement, there was an overseas Chinese in Huangshi, Taishan, who came back from Singapore. He lives in the agate lane of Hui AI Xi Road (today's Zhongshan road six), which is like a market day and night.

There is a saying in the past: "where the benefits lie, the public will become". Besides, this is a good business with ten benefits. The outcome is to catch up with the products in Huangshi, lower the price, and also make a lot of profits.

In brief, first of all, look for the fine yellow cattle skin. After careful drying, add the varnished tung oil. As for the color of lacquer, there are red, purple, black, green and other categories, prior to tung oil blending, and then brush on the skin together.

At the beginning, each brush has no oil for seven or eight days, so it is difficult to dry up, and the cost is heavy. After that, we should improve our practice. Brush oil should be light, uniform and agile. The skin should be wide, crisp and smooth. The brush used is specially designed for long hair and soft skater. The width of the brush is about one foot. As a result, the time reduced from seven days to four days, and then reduced to two days, in fact, 24 hours can be completed.

Recall that when the lacquer skin comes out, the shoe shop will try it first, because the number of users is good, and the box, bag and handbag are also infected. Then it gradually squeezes the skin and partially presses the location of the soil. When the lacquer is in its prime, it accounts for more than 70% of the leather industry. Furthermore, with a low price, it can be exported to the Hong Kong and Macao markets and compete with the Chinese patent leather. During the war of resistance against Japan, because of the scarcity of tung oil and the thin yellow cattle skin, the production of lacquer leather was stopped for a while. After the surrender of the Japanese invaders, the lacquer skin appeared again, and the technology did not go through. If it was not used for one year, the cracks would appear. Leather shoes are the same as others, such as boxes, and so on. Meanwhile, lacquer products, such as glass handbags, glass wallet and glass pants, are flooded with markets.

Four

Jinghai road and Tai Cheng

The leather case of Yangjiang was founded in Yangjiang County of southern Guangdong (in the late Qing Dynasty to Yangjiang Zhili prefecture). The oldest local brand (specially made of such suitcases) has been around the "Opium War" around the past hundred years. The county has more than ten people in this field. The biggest brand name is "Guang Taicheng", which employs three or four workers and has an annual turnover of up to sixty thousand or seventy thousand yuan (Silver Silver Ocean meter). Guang Tai Cheng has a semicolon in Guangzhou City, called "Tai Tai Cheng". It is located in Jinghai Road, with more than ten workers and business, but because of the relationship between the use of lacquer materials (Yangjiang's ground heating is easy to dry), its products are mostly from Yangjiang's main store.

The characteristics of this suitcase are tight, and when opening the lid, it can cause a gust of wind, such as the opening of a bottle of soda. It is excellent in depth, width and length, and is good for collecting clothing such as fur and silk, cotton and woolen cloth. Once upon a time, a bureaucrat, gentleman and rich businessman wearing wide robes were very pleased with it. Therefore, as the official hall of the state and the officials in charge of the state, they always like to buy a few pieces, so that they can be "bundled up" and brought to the provincial capital to send officials and relatives and friends. After that, there are also goods produced in the city of Sui.

Yangjiang suitcase store in Guangzhou city has the following characteristics: "Tai Tai Cheng" and "Polye", "Jiang Anzhan" and "Shun Xing". The stronghold of the bank is in Jinghai Road, Taiping South and Guang Wei Road. In addition to selling to all counties in the province, the trunk boxes are often shipped to Hongkong to compete with Pi Pi, Xigong (large overseas suitcases) and general boxes.

According to tae Cheng's teacher Fu: first of all, select the solid fir board, dig and nail the box, then use the purple stem (Chinese medicine shikonin stem) to grind into powder, paste in the box board seam, apply oil (paint precipitation part), this is its first working procedure. Next, put the suitcase and the already oiled box with the bottom skin (common water buffalo) and Lippi, and cut them into tight stitches. Again, add the skin (yellow cattle skin), four corners and four feet to wrap up for security. This item was also relieved. Apply paint repeatedly (separated by two lakes, Fujian, Zhejiang or Vietnamese importers). Finally, add two ears to carry, lock holes to close, nail copper buttons on corners and feet to support.

The most important thing in leather suitcase is density. Therefore, the wood should be strong and the joints should be filled. The cover should be called "Zi Kou", and the size of the box should be between two or three inches or more. Only in this way can the inside and outside of the box be isolated and moisture is extremely difficult to invade. As a result, people who collect clothes in these suitcases can not be damaged by mildew every year. The range is from ruler two, ruler four, ruler six, ruler eight, two feet to two feet eight, the special person is over three feet, and the ruler is eight and two feet. This regular cargo is estimated to be about 10 yuan to 12 yuan per silver coin, and the price can be reduced by half if it does not use anti blue skin. This means that when the currency was not changed before the war of resistance against Japan (in the form of silver instead of double currency), the value of the coin increased naturally when it was added to two notes in the Chen Jitang era.

Besides the trunk, leather pillows and pillows should be placed in the city, but also "Yangjiang". The pillows are sold on a regular basis, ranging from four or five yuan to seven or eight yuan per pair, with a margin ranging from six inches to a large one. It is also sold to Hong Kong and Macao as well as the trunk. The workers in this area have a monthly income of about thirty or forty yuan, and work for more than 9 hours a day. There are no holidays, no work days due to illness, and no pay. At the end of the year, there are no double salaries and bonus or bonus. Those who get it are the "Enshi" of the boss.

But the boss's profit is very high, usually about forty percent. In the middle of the month, 3000 yuan business is done, and 30 workers can be raised. The rent and daily expenses are five thousand or six thousand, and the net profit is more than 1000 yuan. Like "and Tai Cheng", workers and bosses have more than ten people. Every month, if the business is five thousand yuan, the boss's profit will be between 1200 yuan and 1300 yuan. This is the savings of several industrious and frugal skilled workers. But the owner of the number often boasts of "small profits and small profits".

Besides, there is a folk song in Yangjiang, singing the story of a state official buying a large box and a businessman making money.

A state official has ten boxes.

The box is full of beautiful clothes.

The packing officer smiled.

The boss is full of bags.

This is mostly about three feet long and up to forty or fifty yuan. When a state official leaves office, gold and silver are surplus. He naturally does not care about the high value of the suitcase, but the boss can make hundreds of dollars in a big business, and the net profit can reach 200 yuan or so.