(East-West Question) Yu Xueyun: How do Chinese ancient locks "lock" out of different cultural connotations?
China News Agency, Fuzhou, April 2, Question: How do Chinese ancient locks "lock" a different cultural connotation?
——Interview with Yu Xueyun, a collector and connoisseur of ancient ceramics, and a member of the Chinese Ancient Ceramics Society
China News Agency reporter Liu Kegeng
"Locks out of the box - the past dynasties lock boutique exhibition" ended not long ago in Fuzhou, China.
The 99 locks on display have gone through the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing and modern times, reflecting the development of Chinese lock culture.
The locks on display in "Locks Different - Past Locks Boutique Exhibition" attracted visitors.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Kegeng
Chinese ancient locks, how to "lock" a different cultural connotation?
Yu Xueyun, a collector and connoisseur of ancient ceramics, a member of the Chinese Society of Ancient Ceramics, and the director of Xiangyunxuan Jiangle Kiln Museum, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "East and West Questions" to explain this.
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Service reporter: How was the lock invented? What is the development history of Chinese lock culture?
Yu Xueyun:
The development history of locks is a testimony to the origin of human civilization. In ancient times, intelligent human beings knew how to wrap their personal valuables in animal skins, tie them with ropes outside, and tie a special knot at the final opening. A tool called a "bone rasp" can be used to open it.
Knots and bone files were the prototype of today's locks and keys.
With the development of history, locks have been continuously developed and improved, forming a huge category.
At present, the earliest relatively mature locks found in the world are wooden locks from the Yangshao culture period in China 5,000 years ago.
The development of Chinese locks has roughly gone through several stages: in terms of material, from wooden locks to metal locks (iron and copper locks); in terms of structure, it has experienced latches - reed locks - blade locks - marble locks the process of.
The function of ancient Chinese locks also shows the characteristics of practicality-beauty-technical (introduced from the West).
From the earliest wooden locks of Yangshao culture, there are written records about wooden warehouse locks and keys in the Zhou Dynasty.
The early wooden locks were simple in structure and bulky in shape, and mostly used bamboo poles as keys, which were easy to open.
The wooden lock was not strong enough, and later the lock was made of metal materials such as iron and bronze, and the structure was simple.
In the Han Dynasty, copper reed structure locks, commonly known as three-reed locks or reed locks, used the elastic force of two or three plate-shaped copper sheets to achieve the function of sealing and opening. The safety performance and confidentiality were a big step forward compared with wooden locks. The scope of use is also wider.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the secrecy was enhanced by the improvement of the public transport class (ie Luban).
Since the Tang Dynasty, the reed lock has been continuously improved and developed, and it has been used until the 1950s. There are more than 120 different styles, some of which use special technologies such as secret doors, directional, two-open, keyless, and text passwords. Increase.
The technology of the Han Dynasty reed structure lock was quite advanced for the world at that time.
Unfortunately, Chinese ancient locks developed slowly after the Han Dynasty.
While the ancient lock technology has not been further developed, the decorative tendency of its shape has become more and more obvious.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, locks in the shape of fish and auspicious animals appeared, and later developed into a large type of lock - Citi lock.
Its shape is mainly to imitate the forms of various natural objects and man-made objects, and the changes are rich.
In the Qing Dynasty, the leaf lock invented by the West was introduced into China and was widely used.
In the 1930s, marble locks with lower cost and higher security entered the Chinese market, and the era of Chinese ancient locks became history.
Qing Dynasty engraved Fu Lu Shou Samsung pattern lock.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Kegeng
China News Service reporter: Chinese lock culture has a long history and rich connotations. Why is it said that the lock is the epitome of blessing culture?
Yu Xueyun:
Chinese people's love for the word "blessing" is not only for Chinese New Year, but also in daily life.
As an indispensable tool in people's daily life in ancient times, locks have naturally become the epitome of "blessing" culture.
After thousands of years, Chinese ancient locks not only protect precious objects, but also carry hopes and wishes for a better life.
Ancient locks often use fine patterns to express prayers for champions and titles, long life and wealth, unicorns send children, dragons and phoenixes are auspicious, and they also use unique shapes, such as "qin locks" to express deep affection and longevity, and "fish-shaped locks". "Expressing more than year after year, long-lasting wealth and honor, "longevity and wealth lock" for women and children "locks life, locks health".
Now some scenic spots can still see the unique "artificial landscape" - concentric lock sea.
In the Qing Dynasty, the "Bai Fu Risheng" lock was engraved.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Kegeng
China News Service reporter: How did Western locks originate and develop?
Yu Xueyun:
In the 8th century AD, the Eastern Romans made the original leaf lock, also known as the keyhole lock, which used the key-tooth flower to toggle the matching leaf gap in the lock to open and close.
In the 18th century AD, the British Dannick Porter invented the cam rotary lock.
In the 19th century, European manufacturers invented advanced cam rotary locks, and the number of key teeth increased to 1,600. Later various improvements increased the number of key teeth to tens of thousands of changes.
The key of the blade lock is beautiful in shape and is recognized as the symbol of locks and keys.
Many countries make it into a large golden key and give it to friends and dignitaries as a symbol of respect, peace and friendship.
In 1848, the American Yale invented the marble lock with a cylindrical pin.
Since then, marble locks have gradually become the most commonly used locks in the world.
China News Service reporter: Have there been exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and Western locksmiths in history?
Yu Xueyun:
The development of Chinese and Western locks is a vivid portrayal of Chinese and Western cultural exchanges and mutual learning.
From the earliest wooden locks in the Yangshao period, locks appeared, and then after the popularity of metal locks in the Bronze Age, lock culture spread to the West.
At the end of the 2nd century BC, the reed locks produced in China were introduced to ancient Rome along the "Silk Road".
So far, the reed locks of the Han Dynasty in China are still collected in the Graz City Museum in Austria.
The development of Western locks is actually the inheritance and continuation of Chinese ancient lock culture.
Since the emergence of reed locks in the Han Dynasty, Chinese lock culture has paid more attention to decoration.
The West invented leaf locks on the basis of absorbing ancient Chinese locks, which were introduced to China in the Qing Dynasty.
The West then invented the marble lock, which entered the Chinese market in the middle of the twentieth century, and China's traditional locks gradually retired from the stage of history.
Ancient locks of various dynasties displayed in the Fuzhou Chinese Ancient Lock Museum.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Dongming
Chinese ancient locks have developed from the initial basic function and practicality to practicality and beauty, and have injected a profound traditional culture.
Western locks didn't come to prominence until the last few hundred years.
Different from ancient Chinese locks, Western locks pay more attention to the practicality of locks, tend to "lock industry", and regard locks as a technical product.
Locks are an important part of the "Chinese wisdom" shared by the world.
It originated in China and was later introduced to Europe via the "Silk Road".
Europeans integrated the locks from the East into local technology and culture, and gradually formed their own lock industry system, which in turn promoted the transformation of traditional Chinese locks to modern locks.
For thousands of years, with locks as the carrier, the Eastern and Western civilizations have continuously exchanged and learned from each other.
China News Agency reporter: How should we inherit the Chinese lock culture, tell the story of ancient Chinese locks to the world, and continue to promote exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and Western civilizations?
Yu Xueyun:
A small ancient lock seems to make us feel the "slow time" of the past.
Exquisite engraving and original design are all pulling the strings.
But unfortunately, the cultural factors on ancient locks have been gradually forgotten, and there has been a fault in the development of local lock culture, so that there is basically no connection between China's lock industry and the traditional lock industry.
In addition, for a long time, the domestic lock product modeling development and design awareness is weak, resulting in serious foreignization of lock products in the Chinese market.
At present, China is vigorously promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of Chinese excellent traditional culture.
How to focus on Chinese locks to open up new development prospects and design innovative products with individuality and market has become a key issue faced by the Chinese lock industry.
The 2021 Henan Spring Festival Gala's "Tang Palace Night Banquet" program will be released, and the 2022 CCTV Spring Festival Gala's beautiful dance "Only Green" will follow it.
It seems that the latter seems to be inspired and borrowed from the former, but in fact it is an "unanimous coincidence", arousing the audience's pride in the excellent traditional Chinese culture and praise for inheriting and innovating.
This also stimulates thinking about the current lock industry.
Chinese ancient locks are a good cultural carrier.
It has become the consensus of the moment to integrate the design ingenuity of Chinese ancient locks into the design concept of modern locks, to make cultural relics from thousands of years ago live, and to continuously enhance cultural self-confidence.
The ancient locks are also a true record of exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and Western civilizations.
Only by fully exploring the excellent traditional Chinese culture can we make positive contributions to the exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and Western civilizations.
(over)
Interviewee Profile:
Yu Xueyun, a native of Jiangle, Fujian, is a collector and connoisseur of ancient ceramics, a member of the Chinese Ancient Ceramics Society, a member of the Shanghai Famous Artists Art Research Association, and the director of Xiangyunxuan Jiangle Kiln Museum.
Since he was a teenager, he has collected and studied for more than 30 years. He has successively published two monographs, "Jianle Kiln Ancient Porcelain Appreciation" and "Jianle Kiln Song Dynasty Tea Cup", and published more than ten articles in "Collection" and other magazines. thesis on the subject.
Since 1990, it has donated more than 1,000 pieces of ancient ceramics collections of various periods to many museums, and held free exhibitions, lectures, treasures and other activities for cultural dissemination.