At 93, optician continues making glasses
Print Edition
AT the age of 93, Zhang Yibin is still running an optical shop he opened in the Yuyuan Garden area 34 years ago. “Yajing Eyewear Service” is still popular among its patrons for its great prices and services.
“My reputation is earned from small business margins, which make big business for me,” Zhang explained his price policy.
Despite his age and the occasional trembling of his hands, Zhang is still up to most of the tasks from optometry to reparations.
His whole life, Zhang has worked with eyeglasses. He started to learn the trade at the age of 14 when he was forced to give up his school education as the city was invaded by Japanese troops during World War II.
“I learned by watching over the should er of an old master who was working in his shop,” he said. “The best of the trade would have to be learned this way because the masters were very reserved about sharing their knowledge.”
Among modern equipment on Zhang’s working desk, including a refractometer and a lens polisher, one of the tools that indicate how long he’s been in the business is kerosene lamp he’s been using for five decades. With the lamp, Zhang can correct non-metal frames of glasses.
“It takes an old hand to work with the kerosene lamp because the frame can easily be distorted under it,” he said.
Zhang has fond memories of the times when masters made glasses, long before mass production started.
Today, repairing a pair of glasses wouldn’t be worth the money and trouble. Zhang recalled a customer who came to him to get a nylon cord that came off his glasses fixed.
“He said he spent 200 yuan (US$30) on a new frame for the glasses which cost 280 yuan, but the problem occurred again. I fixed the cord in a few minutes and charged him five yuan,” he said.
Customers come from all parts of the city to buy glasses or have their glasses repaired at Zhang’s shop. While reparation usually costs less than five yuan, glasses range from 100 to 150 yuan.
“I promise my customers that I’ll refund them if they find the same glasses at a lower price anywhere else,” he said.
Most of the time Zhang gets a factory to make the glasses for him, but if a customer needs a pair immediately, he will do it for the same price.
“I can make a pair within an hour, but I would advise the customers to let the factory do the job because it has the devices to do it better,” he said.
Zhang also advises his customers to get their eyes checked by a doctor. Sometimes, he said, deteriorating eyesight can only be a symptom, he said, recalling a girl who’s vision had dramatically deteriorated, and who was later diagnosed with a brain tumor.
Zhang’s most loyal customers usually live close by, but some former residents of the area have also stayed loyal, like a 79-year-old woman surnamed Gong. Although she now lives in Pudong, she goes to Zhong’s whenever there’s a problem with her glasses.
“I bought three glasses from him at once because I know I’m a careless person,” she said. “He’s the one I turn to for glasses because he’s always very patient in addressing my needs.”
A 67-year-old man surnamed Zou said that he convinced his daughter to also become one of Zhang’s customers.
“She wanted to shop for brands, but I persuaded her to come here because it’s both close and good,” said Zou, who has known Zhang for over 50 years.
“Family Business in Glasses,” reads the sign on the door of Zhang’s shop.
Also in Huangpu District, Zhang’s son Weiguo runs another optical shop on Lingjiazhai Road W. which sells vintage frames which the family has collected in the past decades. Zhang’s grandson is also working in the trade. “I’m dying, so I hope to see them prosper. They sure will be because there’s always business in selling glasses,” Zhang said.
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