Barrels replace obsolete chamber pots
Print Edition
The smelly chamber pot was part of daily life in Shanghai before the flush toilets came on the scene.
Every morning in the city’s back lanes, one could hear the clattering noise of residents cleaning out their pots on the doorstep.
In those days, Yang Zhongqi was a tradesman much in demand. He made and repaired chamber pots.
“I felt needed back then because chamber pots were so important for a family,” says the 70-year-old native of Jiangsu Province.
He came to Shanghai in search of a better living, bringing with him his skill in chamber pots.
“I didn’t have a shop back then,” he says. “I simply went to the homes of customers. I used to love making chamber pots for newlyweds. They were considered indispensible when starting new family life.”
Yang still repairs the occasional chamber pot sent to him by old customers. Most are kept in homes for sentimental purposes. With little demand for chamber pots, Yang has applied his carpentry skills to making wooden chairs, bathtubs, washbasins and barrels.
Today, he runs a small shop with his wife on Qibao Old Street in Minhang District. “I’m too old to walk around much now,” he says. “Customers come to me
by word of mouth.”
Yang admits he has become a bit persnickety in his old age. He doesn’t accept an order if he doesn’t like the look of a client.
Much of his current work is on barrels.
“It doesn’t make me a lot of money,” he says. “It’s more like a hobby.”
Yang usually chooses cypress or cedar for his barrels because “they are more waterproof and anticorrosive.”
He saws planks to a prescribed length and planes them to a smooth surface. After making the round bottom, he constructs the barrels, board by board. They are fixed by bamboo nails or by glue. Iron or bamboo strips are then used as the hoops to hold the staves in place.
The barrel is then left in the sun for several days before painting or varnishing.
Just as chamber pots faded from use, so too are handmade wooden barrels.
“There were four barrel-making stores on the old street several years ago, but now I’m the only one left,” Yang says.
Yang’s almost half century in carpentry work has left his powerful hands calloused.
He says it’s hard sometimes to realize that his skill making chamber pots is dying. His sons are running factories and show no interest in keeping alive a tradition that is no longer needed.
In order to keep the business afloat, Yang and his wife have started selling “footbath” barrels with some convex parts at the bottom designed to massage the feet. They also sell some spa essential oil and herbs.
And, yes, the shop does have a few factory-made barrels in stock, though Yang is quick to tell customers how the handmade ones are better.
“My shop would have been long gone if I continues to make only chamber pots,” he says. “Who has any use for them today? Probably no one will make chamber pots any more after I am gone.”
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