The landscape has the fragrance of ink, and the rhyme of Huizhou has a long history (walking into traditional villages)

Source: People's Daily

In Shangzhuang Town, Jixi County, Xuancheng City, Anhui Province, the traditional hand-made ink-making skills have been passed down for thousands of years——

Mountains and rivers have the fragrance of ink, and the rhyme of Huizhou has a long history (walking into traditional villages)

Figure ①: The rear door cover of a Huizhou-style building in Shangzhuang Village, Shangzhuang Town.

Photo by Gao Changqing (People's Vision)

Figure ② to Figure ④: Smoke refining, polishing, and gold painting in the traditional Hui ink production process.

Figure ②, Figure ③, and Figure ④ are all provided by the Propaganda Department of Jixi County Party Committee

Picture ⑤: "Hu Kaiwen" ink of Ten Scenes of West Lake.

File photo (Image China)

Figure ⑥: Residential houses and natural scenery in Shang Village, Shangzhuang Town.

Provided by the Propaganda Department of Jixi County Party Committee

From Jixi County, Xuancheng City, Anhui Province to the west, the sound of water murmurs, the shadows of trees are verdant, all the way to the mountains, suddenly enlightened.

The rivers and streams form a network and surround the village. Simple stone bridges, towering old trees, washing villagers, children playing, and groups of ducks leisurely playing in the water, the scene in front of you is like a picture of ink painting, this is the destination of the reporter's trip - — Shangzhuang Village, Shangzhuang Town. Liu Ru of the Qing Dynasty praised this place: "In front of Zhuying Peak, mountains and rivers gather; beside Yanglin Bridge, chess and stars are scattered."

Shangzhuang Town, Jixi County, Xuancheng City, Anhui Province, also known as Badu, was called Shangchuan in the Qing Dynasty. Stepping into the ancient town, most of yesterday's prosperity has become a story, but there is one object that can travel through history and become a clue to the past-that is a piece of Hui ink.

World Ink Industry in Jixi

A piece of ink outlines the ancient and modern prosperity

The mellow smoke has been refined for a long time, and ten thousand pestles and mortars are hammered. Su Ai, a Chinese literati, calls himself a "Mo Ke" and calls his works "ink traces". The sentence "There are those who have good ink are like famous generals who have good horses", which means that they attach great importance to ink.

The ink industry in the world is headed by Hui ink. Huizhou ink, also known as Huizhou ink, got its name because it was produced in the ancient Huizhou prefecture. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Xi Chao, a famous ink worker, moved his family to Shezhou, which was under the jurisdiction of the ancient Huizhou government. Li Mo is hard to find", said. So far, the main place of origin of ink has moved to Huizhou, and the local family has learned from each other, forming an ink-making center that radiates across the country.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Jixi Huimo reached its peak. The Hui ink produced in this period is "hard but shiny, dark but moist, not glued by licking the pen, not dizzy on the paper, elegant and fragrant, and unchanged after long-term storage." In addition, the shape of ink also incorporates the art of painting, calligraphy, and sculpture, and derives varieties of medicinal ink, collection ink, fine-appreciation ink, and color ink. The function of ink has expanded from a calligraphy and painting tool to a work of art.

Shangzhuang Village, Shangzhuang Town, which was included in the third batch of Chinese traditional villages in 2014, is the hometown of Hu Tianzhu, a famous ink maker in the Qing Dynasty. The tradition of ink making has a long history. Walking into the ancient village of Shangzhuang, there is a Huizhou-style building near the water town at the entrance of the village, called "Hu Kaiwen Memorial Hall". In fact, "Hu Kaiwen" is not the name of a person, but the name of the Huimo Mozhuang shop founded by Hu Tianzhu.

Stepping into the memorial hall, the first thing you see is the statue of Hu Tianzhu, the founder of "Hu Kaiwen Mo". Walking into the back room, you can see the seven big characters on the wall that are particularly eye-catching - "The world's ink industry is in Jixi", highlighting the status of Huimo in Jixi.

"Adhering to the ancient method of making ink is a kind of cultural inheritance. The production cycle of Hui ink is at least a few months. It is no exaggeration to say that it is made through hard work. All the experience is the result of the painstaking efforts of the masters of the past generations." Shangzhuang Old Hu Hu Jiaming, director of the Kaiwen Ink Factory, said that today, the ancient Hui ink making skills are still the same in Shangzhuang Village. According to Hu Jiaming, the formula and craftsmanship of Hui ink are very particular. "Ting Zhimo, in a catty of pine smoke, use three taels of pearls, one tael of jade chips and one tael of borneol, and at the same time pound a hundred thousand pestles with raw lacquer." The raw materials of Hui ink are mainly divided into two types: pine smoke and lampblack. The production process is complicated, including refining smoke, selecting smoke, mixing glue, pounding pestle, molding, pressing, drying ink, ink repairing, polishing, and gold painting. In the process of making ink, in order to ensure the complete fusion of smoke and glue, it needs to be hammered many times. The weight of the hammer is generally 6 or 8 catties. A piece of ink clay needs to be hammered at least 200 times, and at the same time, it is necessary to master the strength and angle, which is a test of the worker's level. Only when the ink is beaten properly, the ink mud will become fine and uniform, and the toughness will also increase, so there is also a saying that "ink never tires of pounding". Because of its unique formula and exquisite craftsmanship, Hui ink has the reputation of "light when picked, clear when rubbed, sweet when smelled, firm as jade, silent when ground, a little bit like lacquer, and true for thousands of years".

One water ring brings ten thousand peaks back

A piece of ink, continuing the inheritance of scholarship

Huiling crosses Jixi County and divides the county into Lingbei and Lingnan. Shangzhuang Ancient Town is located in Lingbei. Here "ten thousand peaks hug back, a water ring", with an open basin in the middle, surrounded by 10 peaks over 1000 meters, the Changxi River, which is crystal clear all year round, flows slowly from the south of the village, passing through Yanglin Bridge winds its way to the east and merges into Xin'an River.

The unique geographical location creates a unique cultural ecology. Generations and batches of ink-making skillful craftsmen have been produced here. Among them, some specialize in making ink models, some specialize in engraving ink seals, some specialize in stamping, and some specialize in sales, with a clear division of labor.

Hui ink has been passed down in Shangzhuang to this day, and it is also based on the academic tradition here. Zhaitan Village, Shangzhuang Town is only a 5-minute drive away from Shangzhuang Village. In 2016, it was included in the fourth batch of Chinese traditional villages, with a history of thousands of years.

In the fourth year of Jingde (1007 A.D.) of Emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty, Hu Zhong, a native of Jixi, built Guizhi Academy for the children of the clan to study. Although it has been destroyed now, it is the earliest academy established in Anhui Province.

After the Song Dynasty went south, the official school declined, but Xin'an Confucianism, which originated in Huizhou, developed rapidly. Neo Confucianists used private academies as places of lectures. There were 32 academies in Anhui during the Song Dynasty, of which 6 still remain in Xuancheng today.

Since modern times, Shangzhuang has also produced a large number of talents. Hu Shi, a pioneer of the New Culture Movement, Wang Tiyu, a medical educator, Cao Chengying, the first female professor of agriculture in China, and Wang Jingzhi, a poet by the lake, all went from the ancient town of Shangzhuang to the vast world.

Wandering in the alleys of Shangzhuang, I accidentally saw that the notices of the village committee posted on the walls were all written with brushes. In Mo Township, it is not uncommon for farmers to be able to write good calligraphy. Back in the day, Shangzhuang Erlang, who didn't know how many people there were, went to the academy to study history and Ming classics. During that time, who didn't hold an ingot of Hui ink in his hand? Spanning thousands of years, ancient and modern prosperity, all converge and merge on this ingot of emblem ink.

Tried and tested to show a new look

One ingot, open up space for innovation

Hui ink represents the profoundness of culture and the rigor of history, but it has never lagged behind in the trend of the times. As a young man who grew up in an old ink factory, Hu Jiaming's daughter, Hu Cuixia, took on the responsibility of promoting Hui-ink culture.

"Welcome everyone to my live broadcast room. Today, I will take you to see how authentic Hui ink is made..." At 10 am, Hu Cuixia started the live broadcast. Today, she will take everyone to visit Shangzhuang Laohu Kaiwen Ink Factory through the live broadcast camera.

"Can I go to the factory to experience it?"

"I'm a beginner, can you recommend an ink?"

In every live broadcast, Hu Cuixia will patiently answer various questions from netizens in the live broadcast room, and she will always reply as much as possible to the private messages received in the background.

Since the live broadcast began in February 2022, Hu Cuixia has accumulated a lot of experience in the past year. She not only prepared a special studio for product explanations, but also took netizens to visit the site so that they can actually experience the ink-making process.

And the more fashionable ones start from making ink molds.

Villager Cao Renhua runs a shop called "Wubenzhai" in Shangzhuang Village, which specializes in making ink molds. The effect of patterns and characters on Hui ink products depends on the ink mold.

"We basically order from the ink factory. It used to be a relatively traditional pattern, but now it tends to be younger. There are some more avant-garde patterns that we need to design ourselves." Cao Renhua said.

"Look, I designed this." Hu Haiyong, head of Xuanzhizhai Huimo Co., Ltd., took out a square of Huimo. But seeing this cuboid emblem ink, there is a swan on the front, a happy spider drooping on the side, and lettering on the back, implying "happy descending from the sky", painted on all sides, reflecting each other, perfectly natural.

"Hui ink needs to develop as well as innovate." To this end, Hu Haiyong has done a lot of exploration. For example, Hu Haiyong used several sides of Hui ink to inject plots into pattern carvings, and a piece of Hui ink carried a comic strip. Hu Haiyong also embeds gemstones of different colors on Hui ink to distinguish the material and color. "On the one hand, it looks more refined, and on the other hand, it is convenient for calligraphy lovers to purchase according to their own needs."

In addition, Huimo ink ingots are no longer limited to traditional shapes, but can integrate painting, calligraphy, carving, modeling and other manual skills into one, becoming a comprehensive fine art. At the same time, Huimo also stepped out of the circle of calligraphy and painting, and opened up new living spaces in air purification, decorative arts, and medicine.

"If Hui ink is to be liked by young people, it is necessary to continue to explore on the basis of ancient methods of making ink. This will not only increase sales, but also help the promotion and inheritance of traditional culture." Hu Haiyong said.

(Zhu Yue participated in the interview and writing)