China News Service, June 2 Question: Female workers in Dare to Dare to Create Forest Area carved "Golden Mountains and Silver Mountains" out of wood
China News Network reporter Xie Peihua Jiang Hui
A few pieces of branches and leaves, after careful matching, become a wood art painting; a piece of waste wood, after some carving, can be worth tens of thousands of yuan.
At present, creative design has been deeply integrated with the real economy, widely penetrated into all fields of society, and has become one of the most promising and dynamic industries in the world economy in the 21st century.
Zhang Guixia, who lives in Xiaoxing'an Mountains and grew up in the forest area, relies on his unique creativity and daring personality to focus on characteristic wood art cultural and creative products, driving hundreds of upstream and downstream enterprises, increasing employment by nearly 10,000 people, and developing forest area workers. A new way to get rich and increase income.
In May, the Xiaoxing'an Mountains are full of greenery, and the rosin is bursting in the Xing'an Forest Man Study Tour Center in Wucui District, Yichun City, Heilongjiang Province.
Birch bark cabins, solid wood tables and chairs, log bunks, wooden chandeliers, wooden toys... Even the paintings in the corridors are skillfully made from pine leaves, branches, pine cone fragments and other wastes.
The 45-year-old Zhang Guixia is bringing his staff to conduct a detailed inspection of the canteen and dormitory in the study tour center. As Heilongjiang Province enters the normalized management of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, there will be more research students from all over the world.
Tourists experience the wooden swing in the study center.
Photo by Sun Hanlun
In 1995, Zhang Guixia, who graduated from technical secondary school, and his lover set up a small handicraft factory with 450 yuan earned from working in the factory, and sold simple woodblock prints carved from basswood and other materials.
The couple had no money to buy raw materials, so they went up the mountain to pick up tree roots and dead wood; if there were no customers, they went to the scenic spot to sell their products.
The hard work pays off. Relying on the abundant raw material resources in the forest area, Zhang Guixia's business is getting better and better. The number of employees has grown to more than 100, and the products are exported to wholesale markets such as Yiwu and Wuhan.
However, the good times did not last long.
In 2004, Yichun City decided to completely stop the logging of natural Korean pine forests.
Faced with the dilemma of no raw materials, Zhang Guixia set his sights on the local red pine Mingzi, which was not wanted.
"In our forest area, we used Mingzi to set fires. Basically, every house must have a few pieces on top of the piles, which are discarded in front of and behind the house. Later, the art made by Mingzi caught fire, and some people in the industry called it 'North Chenxiang'. '".
Zhang Guixia took out a string of "North Star Fragrance" bracelets from the showcase and said that in order to develop "North Star Fragrance" and make better products, she specially invited a master carver from the south, and brought "North Star Fragrance" products to represent Iraqi many times. In spring, he participated in large-scale exhibitions such as "Harbin Fair" and "Cultural Fair".
Today, the "North Agarwood" handicrafts with local characteristics are very popular in the tourism market and antique market. There are specialty stores in Beijing, Dalian and other places, with an annual sales of nearly 10 million yuan.
Driven by Zhang Guixia, more than 200 "North Agarwood" processing plants have appeared in Yichun City, creating employment for tens of thousands of people.
Zhang Guixia (left) introduces wood carving products.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
In the master studio in Yichun Ecological Economic Development Zone, pieces of exquisite root carving art are being born from Gao Chunlei's hands.
Gao Chunlei used to be a forest farm worker. After the logging was stopped, he taught himself a superb carving technique. He joined Zhang Guixia Company a few years ago, specializing in the creation of root carvings.
Gao Chunlei told reporters that there are many people like him who are engaged in wood art creation in Yichun.
The popularity of "North Chenxiang" did not stop Zhang Guixia, who dared to venture and fight, to stop his entrepreneurship.
In 2018, Zhang Guixia launched three projects: Yongda Wood Art Culture Tourism Research and Study Experience Base, Xing'an Forest Man Study Center, and Heilongjiang Jinshan Town Wood Art Cultural Center, which can accommodate 400 people to eat at the same time, 200 people to stay in, and can undertake research and study tourism a year. 50,000 passengers.
Children build blocks in the study center.
Photo by Sun Hanlun
Recently, Heilongjiang Province for the first time released the "Special Plan for the Development of Creative Design Industry in Heilongjiang Province (2022-2030)" and "Several Policies and Measures to Support the Development of Creative Design Industry in Heilongjiang Province".
Zhang Guixia said excitedly that "Planning" and "Measures" made her full of creativity again.
"We plan to implant the elements of 'Beichenxiang' into practical home furniture, and use birch bark, pine branches and other under-forest products and leftovers to develop some special packaging to increase the added value of local pine nuts, blueberries and other specialties. We also plan to open a large class of entrepreneurship and design for primary and middle school students, cultivate local talents, create an industrial chain with Yichun characteristics, and protect this piece of green water and green mountains.”
(Finish)