[Hong Kong Story] There is a "florist" in Yuen Long that does not sell flowers: exploring Hong Kong's traditional flower card skills
[Explanation] The Yulan Festival is approaching. Walking on the streets of Yuen Long in the New Territories of Hong Kong, you can see flower plaques of different sizes standing on the side of the road from time to time.
As a long-standing paper decoration in Hong Kong, flower cards were included in the Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2014 and play an important role in Hong Kong's traditional folk festivals.
[Concurrent] Li Cuilan, the master of Hong Kong flower card making
Flower cards have been a unique feature of Hong Kong over the years. The purpose of flower cards is to use them in festive places.
It can be used for marriage, full moon, inauguration, opening, Tin Hau birthday, Guanyin birthday, Guan Di birthday, etc. in the surrounding village.
(If) someone doesn't know what you are doing in this place, you hang up the flower row, they will know what kind of show you are doing here as soon as they see the title.
[Explanation] This special "flower shop" in Yuen Long does not sell flowers, but flower cards with Hong Kong characteristics.
Li Yanji Flower Shop is one of the few old shops that can make giant flower cards in Hong Kong. It has a history of nearly 70 years.
The owner, Li Cuilan, known as Sister Lan, was in her teens and followed her father Li Jinyan to make flower cards. Now she has been in the business for more than half a century.
In Sister Lan's view, in order to make a qualified flower card, in addition to paper binding, flower folding, and shed, writing large characters is the soul of flower card making, and it is also the boy skill she has trained since childhood.
Back then, my father wrote the bottom words with paste and asked her to paste the words with cotton.
When she was a child, Li Cuilan practiced observing every day, and finally got the truth from her father.
[Concurrent] Li Cuilan, the master of Hong Kong flower card making
When it's my turn to glue cotton, I will write again based on his (father's) strokes.
Every time my dad writes, I stand next to him and look at the strokes he uses. I will focus on which drawing is important and which drawing I want to mention. I will practice with the newspaper and practice until I can write with him ( Father)'s words are similar.
[Explanation] Sister Lan is well versed in the secrets of making flower cards eye-catching. In addition to the magic of writing, the choice of color is the subtlety of it.
[Concurrent] Li Cuilan, the master of Hong Kong flower card making
The color we use must be bright, and its theme is the most important, so use the brightest and brightest (color).
Most festive things should use red, and blue should be as little as possible, but if you don’t have it, it won’t look good.
So the flowers are blue.
If you have a light-colored character, your base should be darker. If you have both light-colored characters, the character will not stand out.
[Explanation] Behind the proficiency is daily practice.
In the past fifty years, it was common for Sister Lan to write with her head down for more than ten hours a day, so the severe strain on her shoulders, neck and wrist has become her regret now.
Fortunately, when she retired, she found two successors to pass on all her father's craftsmanship.
With the development of science and technology, many flower shops have now replaced handwritten characters with computer printing, but in the eyes of this veteran, handwritten flower cards have an irreplaceable and vivid human touch.
[Concurrent] Li Cuilan, the master of Hong Kong flower card making
I used to kneel here like this and write like this here.
Now I have to sit on a stool, my legs are no longer good.
In the past, we used human handwriting. A flower card was more than ten feet wide and had to write the names of more than two hundred shop heads. We used this brush to hang handwriting all day.
But now it’s different. Now I use a computer, so the tools are much faster now, but I think that using human handwriting, these words are more beautiful and vivid, and the computer is a little more rigid and the same.
[Explanation] As the times change, this traditional technique is constantly innovating and advancing with the times.
[Concurrent] Li Cuilan, the master of Hong Kong flower card making
In the past, it was a little more dangerous to develop to a high level. Now, instead of doing so high, it will develop horizontally.
I have tried one (flower card) that is as big as 100 feet, and some is as small as 20 feet, which can be used in ordinary buildings.
If the place is open, it can be larger.
Now this master thinks of making some small flower cards indoors, why make them small?
You can put it in the mall.
[Explanation] In recent years, under the impetus of two apprentices, Li Yanji’s flower cards have moved from rural villages to fashion business circles, from the streets and lanes to high-rise buildings, bringing this time-honored traditional Hong Kong culture into more people’s lives. Life.
Reporter Fan Siyi reports from Hong Kong
Editor in charge: [Li Yuxin]