Fewer customers, but Wang carries on working
Print Edition
Bamboo ware used to be a common article in people’s daily lives, such as summer hats, chairs and mats. However, with the appearance of more and more new materials, bamboo ware has been in decline since the late 1980s.
At 44, Lane 77, Loutang Road in Loutang Old Town, people often see a white-haired old man squatting on the ground with bamboo strips in his hands. Behind the busy worker, there are lines of bamboo wares such as shoe-shaped baskets, baskets, chopstick holders and artistic tablets.
This man is 81-year-old Wang Baolong, one of the city’s few remaining bamboo artisans. Wang started to learn bamboo weaving when he was 13 and has not stopped ever since.
In 1964, he joined the bamboo production cooperatives of his village to make daily-use bamboo articles. At that time, bamboo wares were everyday necessities. The cooperatives enjoyed good business and Wang was quite popular. It was a time Wang cherishes and he misses it a lot.
Gradually, with the development of technology, bamboo wares have been replaced by other new products and the cooperatives eventually closed up after suffering continuous loss in the late 1980s. However, Wang didn’t give up his career and opened a bamboo ware shop at his home. Although the business is declining, the old man persists in what he loves.
Bamboo weaving is actually a tough job with complicated technique. There are over a dozen of processes including choosing the right materials, breaking the bamboo, cutting bamboo into strips, weaving it into different shapes, and painting it after polishing it.
Wang said choosing materials is especially important since there are different bamboos, such as moso bamboo, fishscale bamboo or green bamboo, for different items. For elaborate articles, some extra processes such as boiling in water or oil are necessary to improve its tenacity. It’s not surprising that such a complicated craft is about to extinct in such an age of high efficiency, and there are few young people willing to learn this skill. Wang’s son Du Yuexian was one of the few. He is now over 50.
Today, Wang’s bamboo store receives fewer and fewer customers and the bamboo wares made there are mostly for museums.
Although it’s a way to preserve this traditional skill, Wang hopes that people can see the beautiful bamboo wares not only in museum’s cabinets but also in daily lives. He and his son want to pass their skills on to the younger generation so that their skills will not be lost in history.
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