To Make the Best Iron Wok in China Post-90s graduate from Lichuan to revitalize traditional craftsmanship of iron forging

2018-03-13ByLiYanruiLiuChang

Special Focus 2018年2期

By Li Yanrui & Liu Chang

“When Spring Festival is drawing near, the orders for iron woks are flooding into Iron Boy Commune at Datian Village in Nanping Town, Lichuan City of Hubei Province. “I’ve been busy with the order forms and haven’t slept for three days,” Tian said.

On January 16, 2018, 26-yearold Tian Huan, President of Iron Boy Commune, seemed a bit tired yet excited. He said, “There are still 200 WeChat friends waiting to be approved because the Iron Boy Commune group on WeChat is full (maximum 5000 members).They are all our clients.”

Magic of a Hand-made Wok

Sizzle. Several fish from Qingjiang River were placed into the 28 cm pan made by Iron Boy Commune.Without any oil and just several slices of ginger, savory, fried golden fish were ready in just a few minutes.

In order to test its magic power,Mr. Tian used another brand’s non-stick iron pan to fry fish using the same materials. The result was that the fish stuck to the bottom.

“Let me explain why the fish wasn’t as sticky in our wok. The 1.25 kg wok is made of 1.5 kg of fine iron. It took a whole day to make it, and we strictly followed the traditional method of making an ‘open wok’ by putting soy bean and fat in it.” Mr. Tian pointed to the dense hive-shaped hammer print and explained that there were over ten procedures needed to make a wok, ranging from iron selecting to iron sampling, fire making, hammering, forming,and finally chilling. It had to be hammered more than 20,000 times, and every procedure had to be completed carefully.

“3天没有睡觉了，一直在填回单。”春节将至，利川市南坪乡大田村“铁娃公社”订单如雪片般飞来。

2018年 1月16日，26岁的“铁娃公社”社长田欢，虽然略显疲惫但露着兴奋：“还有200多个微信好友没来得及加，‘铁娃公社’5000人的微信群上限已经满额了，都是订货的顾客。”

一锤锤打出来就是不一样

“滋滋滋……”几条清江河里打捞出的洋鱼，放进“铁娃公社”出品的一口28cm的煎锅里，丢进几枚姜片，不加一滴油，不一会儿就煎得两面金黄，鱼身完整，香味四溢。

比对试验用的另一口不沾涂层品牌铁锅，按常规生姜片擦锅，适量菜油滑锅。洋鱼进锅，抖一下锅，鱼皮却黏得锅底到处都是。

“不粘那是有原因的。这口锅有2斤半，用3斤精铁打了一天。新锅启用，还按照传统方法，用黄豆和肥肉‘开锅’。” 指着上面密密麻麻的蜂巢样锤子印，田欢说，每口铁锅，需要选铁、取样、开板、烧火、捶打、成型、淬火等十来道工序，捶打2万多次，每个步骤都有讲究。

“为了打出现在这样一口好锅，自己摸索大半年，拜访多家国内制锅厂商，和十好几位老铁匠反复实验，经历几百次失败，才得成功。和机器锻压、抛光的铁锅不同，我们的铁锅全靠一锤锤打出来，锅底蜂窝状的气孔使得受热更均匀，这就是不粘的秘密。”

“It took me more than half a year to find out how to make a good wok. I visited a number of domestic wok manufacturers, did tests with dozens of experienced blacksmiths, and failed several hundred times before the final product took shape. Different from the machine-made iron woks, our wok was forged blow by blow. The hive-shaped pores at the bottom of the wok make the heat exposure more even, which is the secret to its non-stickiness.”Mr. Tian said.

Mr. Tian gained a lot of knowledge from making his iron woks, and started his journey of exploration on anvil skills by employing hammer and fire techniques.

In early 2017, Mr. Tian, with a bachelor’s degree in art design began to visit the well-known museums in China and dwelled on the exquisite patterns of ancient utensils. He also frequently attended large-scale cultural expos and learned a lot. With the help of several leading masters of the field, he had created many new iron products, such as iron boilers, tripod pots, vases, and tea sets. These products were popular among higher-paying customers for their practical functions and aesthetic values.

One message from an overseas Chinese person left to the WeChat Mall of Iron Boy Commune read,“Your hand-made products embody a craftsman’s talents. My family likes them very much. So

从日常生活用品铁锅起步，田欢小有所获。铁锤、炉火间，田欢又开启铁砧上的创作之旅。

2017年新年伊始，大学学习设计专业的田欢游走全国知名博物馆，观摩古代器皿的精美造型；频繁参加大型文创博览会，汲取营养。在多位文创大师的帮助下，不断推陈出新，生产出铁釜、鼎罐、花器、茶具等铁器，既能满足功能性需求，又极具审美价值，受到高端消费者欢迎。

2017年10月，田欢在北京参加国际设计周，一口气接到200多款铁器订单。中国手工艺人平台“东家”创始人朱见山不仅购买铁器，还联络台北多位顶级设计大师给予指导。

“你们手工的东西很有匠人的温度，我们全家都很喜欢，我要把它传给下一代。”一位海外华人在铁娃公社的微信商城留言。

一步步摸索 “小铁匠”不一般

俗话说，“人生有三苦，打铁、撑船、磨豆腐。”田欢的祖上三代都是打铁匠。“家中老人从小就跟我说，要好好读书，长大后，就不用再辛苦打铁了。”

田欢毕业后在北京找了份工作。一个偶然机会，他看到一组精美实用的日本铁锅，标价数千元，感到非常震惊。“原来不起眼的铁匠活，竟可以做出这样的好东西。”

2016年，田欢辞掉北京工作，返回利川深山老林的老家。“我要发扬祖传打铁工艺，打出中国好铁锅。”

手工制造铁锅并不容易。“要一锤一锤敲出来，锅的厚度、开口的大小都很难控制。”

花了大半年时间找到十多位老铁匠，开出让老铁匠笑咧嘴的工资，“铁娃公社”开张营业。可老铁匠们随意惯了，做出的铁锅开口误差经常超出1.5厘米。田欢将这些不合格的铁锅敲碎重做。这令老铁匠们很不开心，“这个小后生，怎么老是刁难我们呢？”

“为了和师傅们沟通，我学会了喝酒，每次去验货，都带上一瓶白酒。一边喝酒，一边打铁，交流渐渐变得顺畅了起来。”说起这事，田欢憨憨一笑。

锅打出来了，往哪儿卖呢？田欢和工人们背着铁锅，到集镇上一家家商店推销，却差点被人赶出来。“什么年代了，还卖这种锅？”

“娃，别折腾了，半年的工资我们不要了，你去找份正经的工作吧。”几位老铁匠把田欢叫到跟前，收拾行装准备告别。

创业咋这么难！田欢哭了。土家汉子的倔强，让他未轻言放弃。背着铁锅，到处参加展会。为了卖锅，他注册微博，添加了100多个微信群，主动联系自媒体平台，每天更新自己的铁器铁艺。

在互联网这个平台上，他的铁器遇到知音。

“铁娃公社”慢慢火了，产品不仅卖进大城市，还收到来自日本、I want to pass them down to my next generation.”

An Adventurous “Young Blacksmith”

As an old saying goes, the three hardest jobs in life are forging iron, poling a boat, and grinding tofu. Tianan’s family have been blacksmiths for three generations.“When I was a kid, my grandpa always told me to study hard and not become a blacksmith in the future, for it is a toilsome job.”

After graduating from college,Mr. Tian found a job in Beijing.By chance, he saw a set of exquisite and practical Japanesemade iron woks in a shop one day. It was sold at the price of several thousand yuan. Tian was astonished that a blacksmith could make such beautiful work.

So, Mr. Tian quit his job in 2016 and returned to his remote mountain village in Lichuan. “I want to revitalize traditional iron forging craftsmanship and make the best wok in China.”

It’s not an easy job to make a wok by hand. “It’s made blow by blow, and it’s difficult to control the thickness and size of the wok opening.”

Mr. Tian spent almost half a year learning from dozens of experienced local blacksmiths and offered them handsome salaries to work in his newly established Iron Boy Commune. However,these blacksmiths were so casual in their work that the deviation of wok openings was sometimes more than 1.5 cm. Mr. Tian was not satisfied with this and smashed all the unqualified woks and made the blacksmiths make them again. The blacksmiths complained, “Why is this young man making such a big fuss about it?”

“For the benefit of communicating with the blacksmiths, I learned to drink alcohol. Every time when I examined products, I would take a bottle of baijiu. It is much easier to communicate with them while drinking,” Mr. Tian said, giggling.

When their woks were produced,what they were worried about was the market. Mr. Tian and his fellows had to promote their woks at every shop in the local town, but they were refused and even driven out by some of the shop owners. They sneered, “Who would buy such old-fashioned woks nowadays?”

“Son, don’t waste your time.We don’t want the salary for the past half year. Go and find a decent job,” Tian was told. Several blacksmiths already prepared to leave.

“Why is it so hard to start your own business?” Mr. Tian cried. But as a Tujia man, Tian was stubborn and never gave up easily. He carried woks to attend expos everywhere. To promote his woks, he registered at Weibo, added over 100 WeChat groups, and contacted We-Media platforms to promote iron products.

His ironwork was finally recognized on the internet.

Iron Boy Commune gradually gain popularity on the internet.The products were not only sold in big cities in China, but also to Japan, South Korea, and Australia. Mr. Tian even got orders from the China Embassy in Mongolia. They’ve already presold 10,000 woks for 2018. “What we lack most now is blacksmiths.We count on our blacksmiths to complete these orders. It will be a busy year.”

More Hands Make Light Wok

During his interview, some villagers came in to ask, “Iron Boy, this year we’re not going to find jobs in other cities. Can we learn this trade from you?Besides, the salary with you is more than 10,000 yuan a month,far better than we could earn elsewhere.”

The requests kept pouring in. “We’re graduates from universities in Wuhan, majoring in design. Can you accept us as apprentices?” asked some. “We’re blacksmiths from Enshi. We want to join Iron Boy Commune. Can you help us sell our products?” If you scrolled over Mr. Tian’s notes on WeChat, you would find loads of messages like this.

Mr. Tian was delighted to read these messages. “I worked very hard this year and only made over 1,000 woks. The sales revenue was less than 2 million yuan. It’s a huge market. If more people join in, we will be able to improve our techniques and expand our market, which will also help pave a new way for neighboring villagers to shake off poverty. Why not accept them?”

“A new market entity like Iron Boy Commune brings new concepts, new techniques, and new ideas, and it injects vitality into the rural development of our city,” said Mr. Sha Yushan,Secretary of CPC Lichuan Municipal Committee. The municipal government plans to build more featured towns by combining folk craftsmanship with tourism so as to provide a platform for young entrepreneurs like Tian Huan to make their dreams come true.◆

(Translation: Li Li)韩国、澳大利亚的订单。中国驻蒙古大使馆，也慕名订制。2018年订单，已突破万口。“现在就是差打铁师傅，这些订单，只指望现在这些师傅，怎么忙也忙不过来。”