In Yanjian Village, Luoyang, Henan Province, there is a "big counterfeiter" named Fang Xingqing.
The old man not only "faked" himself, but even led the whole village to "fake" together.
Their "fakes" are very popular and even exported abroad.
In 2020, the village's GDP reached 1600 million, this village of only 3,550 people, per capita GDP of nearly 50,000 yuan.
Doesn't the police care about such a blatant "violation"?
The response of the police was not to break the law.
What exactly are they making, and is it not illegal to fake it? And it's still so popular?
Let's walk into the old man Fang Xingqing and follow his time clues to understand this story.
Fang Xingqing, born in 1942 in Yanjian Village, Luoyang, Henan Province, is an authentic farmer.
In the eyes of the villagers,He has been a clever person since he was a child, and if someone's things are broken, as long as it is not a major problem, Fang Xingqing can fix it.
Although he grew up in the countryside and has a low level of education, Fang Xingqing likes to flip through books and do some "small research" that he likes when he has nothing to do.
He likes to read history books the most, especially when it comes to cultural relics, and is even a little obsessed.
I once walked dozens of kilometers to the county library to borrow books on cultural relics.
If you don't forget, there will be an echo.
By chance, Fang Xingqing got a bronze mirror that changed his life.
Speaking of the origin of this bronze mirror, it is not very magical, it was just picked up by Fang Xingqing when he was plowing in the field.
Although the pattern on the mirror is very finely carved, due to the age, it is covered with spotted patina, which is nothing more than a piece of "broken copper" in the eyes of others.
Fang Xingqing took this mirror and looked at it carefully in his hand, and the more he looked at it, the more he liked it.
After returning home, Fang Xingqing cleaned the soil on the ancient mirror and played with it repeatedly, like a treasure.
Just when he was playing with it repeatedly, he found that the back of the mirror was missing, and he couldn't help but sigh a little that such an antique mirror had such a big flaw.
So Fang Xingqing made a bold decision, he wanted to restore this ancient mirror.
However, it is easier said than doneThe repair of bronze is not the same as the repair of pots and pans, not only to repair the broken parts, but also not to affect the aesthetics
The repaired mirror should be aligned with the original pattern, and the color and texture should also be unified in order to be considered complete.
It can be said that it is more difficult to repair than to make a mirror
Although Fang Xingqing is skillful and has done a lot of tinkering work, it is the first time that the bronze has been repaired.
Although it was the first time, Fang Xingqing had his own plan.
After finishing his family's farm work every day, he began to implement his "restoration plan" in an orderly manner.
He first consulted a lot of information, and then went to the local antique shops and coppersmiths to ask them for advice on repairs.
Taken together, he felt that the theoretical knowledge was almost complete, and Fang Xingqing began to enter the practical stage.
He found many bronze objects as "test objects".
They are cleaned, dismantled, rusted, orthopedic, spliced, matched, turned, engraved, cast, polished, and color-filled one by one.
I personally practiced every link of bronze repair.
Hard work pays off.
After several months of hard work, Fang Xingqing actually repaired this bronze mirror, and it was flawless.
Fang Xingqing was happy, but his wife was a little unhappy: a young man, after doing farm work every day, he drummed up these broken copper and iron, and he didn't look like he was living at all.
In the face of his wife's cynicism, Fang Xingqing just smiled, and showed off around the village every day with the bronze mirror he had repaired.
And the news that he had repaired the bronze mirror also spread in the village, and the more it spread, the more it spread.
It is said that Fang Xingqing's bronze mirror is a treasure, and in the end, someone paid 100 yuan to buy this mirror
You know, in the 60s of the last century, 100 yuan was a sky-high price, and at that time, a bottle of authentic Moutai was only 8$5 only.
With this "first pot of gold", Fang Xingqing's wife no longer complained about her husband, and even began to support her husband in drumming up these "broken copper and iron".
And Fang Xingqing also found "business opportunities" in his interests.
Reselling cultural relics is indeed a lucrative "big deal".
Although Fang Xingqing is not highly educated, he also knows that this is illegal.
But how can you not break the law and use "cultural relics" to make money?
After thinking about it, Fang Xingqing thought of a way to get the best of both worlds:That is to sell imitation artifacts made by yourself.
Clearly tell the buyer that this is a craft imitation, so that it is not illegal, and it can meet the needs of people who like "cultural relics" as much as he does.
Just do it, Fang Xingqing called a few of his friends, and also found the coppersmiths in the town, and a few began to study the production of bronze artworks.
After discussion, they decided to start with a simple copper coin.
Once you have some experience, you can move on to more complex things.
But I didn't expect to encounter a problem at the beginning.
If you want to produce large quantities, you must have molds that can be used over and over again.
It was this mold that stumped them, and due to limited technology, the molds they produced were often damaged after only one use.
If you use a mold at one time, the cost will increase, and the production efficiency will be greatly reduced.
But who is Fang Xingqing?
When he didn't know anything, he was able to repair the bronze mirror with tenacity, not to mention that he has mastered some techniques now.
Based on the knowledge of bronze making that he had mastered, he repeatedly searched and found the problem.
And then onI looked around with my friends, went to the museum to see the real thing, asked the master for advice, and finally made a mold that could be used repeatedly.
The problem was solved, and the first products came into being, but the problem came again.
Imitation bronzes are made to make money, but you have to sell them to make money, so how can you sell them?
Fang Xingqing does not have outstanding business acumen, but he still relies on that tenacityHe used the most primitive sales method, door-to-door sales.
Because Fang Xingqing's bronze imitation is beautifully made and moderate, it quickly opened up sales, and many people are willing to buy it as a handicraft and put it at home.
With the sale of the first batch of products, Fang Xingqing's small handicraft workshop began to gradually get on the right track.
Imitation products have also developed from the simplest copper coins to more complex crafts such as copper tripods and copper kettles.
Gradually, Fang Xingqing's small handicraft workshop became famous, and he also completed the transformation from a "farmer" to a "craftsman", and became a celebrity in Shili Eight Villages.
Fang Xingqing's craftsmanship has also become better and better in these yearsHis imitation of the "Warring States Ox Nose Elephant Back Bronze Mirror" and another copper galloping horse even reached the point of being fake
So that many cultural relics experts have to identify again and again to see.
The imitation of bronzes made Fang Xingqing make a lot of money, but "troubles" also followed one after another.
Many people knew that Fang Xingqing's craft could make money, so they came to learn from him. There are villagers in this village who watched Fang Xingqing grow up, and there are also many people who come from afar.
They all expressed their willingness to pay tuition, as long as Fang Xingqing was willing to teach.
At first, Fang Xingqing refused, everyone understands the truth of "teaching apprentices, starving masters", even if the other party pays the tuition, it will inevitably pose a threat to his sales after he becomes a hand.
There were more and more people who came to ask for advice, and Fang Xingqing stood at the door, watching his family's booming business.
Looking at the villagers who were plowing in the fields not far away, he made a bold decision with kindness and simplicityExpose the bronz-making process to the whole village
He thought that his life was rich, and he also wanted to make the villagers who watched him grow up rich.
He wants to be right about the land that gave birth to him and raised him.
Under the leadership of Fang Xingqing, the bronze handicraft workshops in Yanjian Village have sprung up like mushrooms after the rain, and with the previous reputation of Fang Xingqing, the sales of the villagers are naturally not a problem.
Soon, Yanjian Village became a well-known base for imitating ancient bronzes, and its products were also exported to all parts of the country.
The people in the village also have a higher income because of this business, and every family is living a good life, and the lives of the villagers have changed dramatically.
Although Fang Xingqing, who has gained both fame and fortune, has not lost himself, he will repeatedly emphasize to customers that it is just an imitation in the process of sales.
But trouble still found him.
On the eve of the Spring Festival in 1981,Fang Xingqing was taken to the local police station for investigation on suspicion of a cultural relics smuggling case.
It turned out that during the inspection, the customs found a batch of cultural relics, and it was the buyer who told the police Fang Xingqing's information.
Fang Xingqing explained to the police that the "cultural relics" were all from him.
And it is also very clear when it is sold, it is only imitations, and **is only a handicraft**.
* Cultural relics experts were found for identification, although the identification results proved that they were indeed imitations, but the experts were also impressed by Fang Xingqing's exquisite craftsmanship.
After a few days of investigation and verification, it was proved that Fang Xingqing was telling the truth.
Moreover, there was no fraud in the process, let alone reselling cultural relics, so he was released without any punishment.
This thrilling experience made Fang Xingqing realizeIf you want to do this thing for a long time, it is not enough to rely on exquisite craftsmanship, but also to understand the various policies and regulations of the state.
After the frightened Fang Xingqing returned home, he secretly rejoiced in his craftsmanship.
While thinking about how to avoid similar oolong incidents in the future.
So after the bronze is made in the future, he will add his own exclusive signature on it, so that even if the imitation is similar, people can see at a glance that it is an imitation.
This method was later extended to the entire Yanjian Village, so that people with intentions would be prevented from making ill-gotten gains from the source.
Open the road in the mountains and build bridges in the river.
Fang Xingqing is such a person, under his leadership, the entire Yanjian Village has been working diligently for decades, making diligently, selling according to its duty, and embarking on a prosperous road for the whole village.
Nowadays,Yanjian Village is not only a well-off village with an annual output of more than 100 million, but also a heritage village of bronze production culture
Behind this, the old man Fang Xingqing has made great contributions.
Although Fang Xingqing is only a peasant, he has vividly displayed the labor wisdom and overall situation concept of the Chinese people.
Let us bless the old man Fang Xingqing and Yanjian Village, and hope that they can carry forward the production of ancient bronzes in the future.