There is a famous saying in China - "Three hundred and sixty practices will lead to the number one scholar". I don’t know how many years this proverb has been around, but it is well known to every household, women and children alike.

The so-called "three hundred and sixty trades" refer to trades in all walks of life, that is, the types of work in society. As the saying goes: "Bone the gong and sell the candy, each doing his own thing." Regarding the industry, there are thirty-six lines of records since the Tang Dynasty. Zhou Hui's "Qingbo Magazine" in the Song Dynasty recorded that there were meat shops, seafood shops, sauce shops, flower and fruit shops, fresh fish shops, palace noodle shops, ready-made clothes shops, medicine shops, tying shops, coffins shops, and old shops. Pottery shop, puppet shop, drumming shop, juggling shop, leather shop, etc.

How to develop from thirty-six lines to "three hundred and sixty lines"? According to Xu Ke's "Qing Bailei Chao·Agricultural and Commercial Classes": "The thirty-six lines are various occupations. Based on their division of labor, it is said to be thirty-six lines; if it is doubled, it will be seventy-two lines; if it is ten, it will be three "One hundred and sixty lines." It can be seen that "three hundred and sixty lines" is just an approximation. In fact, since ancient times, the types of work in the industry have never been more than "three hundred and sixty lines", and there are also more than 3,600 lines. However, "three hundred and sixty lines" is just a general number. The "three hundred and sixty lines" circulated among the people is a general term. It has become a natural habit over the years. It is convenient to say and sounds pleasant to the ear. Therefore, at present, when talking about the industry, it is still a general term. The place is called "Three Hundred and Sixty Lines".

In old China at the beginning of the 20th century, Shanghainese people founded many cigarette companies, and then national capitalists also founded many cigarette factories. In order to compete for the cigarette market, Chinese and foreign cigarette companies came up with a new strategy to give away a small picture with each pack of cigarettes. Such pictures are commonly known as "cigarette brands" in Shanghai and "mao pictures" in Tianjin, and are now collectively referred to as cigarette paintings.

This is both a gift and an advertisement for the tobacco company. The contents on the smoke paintings are rich and varied, including the Chinese classical novels "A Dream of Red Mansions" and "Water Margin", as well as Peking Opera masks, animals and plants, opera characters, ladies, etc. Many tobacco companies have also published "Three Hundred and Sixty Lines" cigarette brands. Although the versions they produced were different, the industries they represented were similar, such as wonton ladles, shaved heads, cotton playing, potato baking, dancing girls, and prostitutes.

At that time, Mr. Feng Yiyou’s father, Mr. Feng Sunmei, was a famous collector of cigarette paintings. He collected these small paintings to the point of obsession. He enjoyed it for decades and became the best in old Shanghai. He exhibited his works in public many times. collection, so it is known as the "King of Shanghai Tang Cigarette Brands". Now this "big king" has passed away for many years. Before his death, in addition to donating many cigarette paintings to relevant museums, he also passed on more than 3,000 remaining cigarette paintings to his son Feng Yiyou. Feng inherited his father's business and was influenced by his father since childhood. Feng Yiyou also loved playing with cigarette pictures. He spent a lot of money and collected thousands of cigarette paintings. Among his collections are different versions of "Three Hundred and Sixty Lines" cigarettes. Although the brands are not comprehensive, they can reflect some basic conditions of the old "Three Hundred and Sixty Lines" of old China from many angles.

Now this kind of smoke painting from seventy or eighty years ago has become a rarity. When some collectors and folklore workers learned that Feng Yiyou had collected "three hundred and sixty lines" of smoke paintings, they started to pay attention to it. Go and borrow some, some for research, and some for a quick look. However, Feng Yi was nearly 70 years old and could not cater to the requests of many borrowers, so he came up with the idea of ??publishing 360 lines of smoke paintings. It just so happened that I was familiar with the editor, Mr. Zhang Jingyi, because I had published the book "A View of Chinese Collecting Culture" at Baihua Literature and Art Publishing House. It was no coincidence that the book came into being. Mr. Zhang had already had the idea of ??publishing "Three Hundred and Sixty Lines". When he When I asked who had the "Three Hundred and Sixty Lines" cigarette painting, I introduced Feng Yiyou, and the two of them hit it off.

In the book "China·Old 360 Lines", we have adopted the form of paying equal attention to pictures and text. Especially the text part is very difficult. Although some smoke paintings also have several-word titles, the author's Each written description should be about 700-1,000 words. According to the trades provided in the picture, we will introduce the social evolution of various industries in the south of the Yangtze River in the past century in old China with old Shanghai as the epitome from its origin, development, evolution, legends, ancestors, interesting iron stories, national customs, etc. characteristics, and strive to make the book both historical and informative, folklore and interesting. The writing focuses on seeing the big from the small, and then truly reflects some historical features of old China. For example, we did not simply describe how the road builder built the road, but through the road builder, we further introduced China's first major road built with ironclad wood; and for example, when carrying sleepers, we did not stop at how to carry the sleepers. In the specific operation, but through the back sleepers, it introduces the historical events of the construction and demolition of the first Songhu Railway built in China's history, demolition and construction...

In addition, thirty-six lines It is the collective name for the main industries in the society of the Tang Dynasty in China, reflecting the division of labor in the social industries at that time. Thirty-six lines extend the commonly used Chinese folk theory of industry classification of seventy-two lines or three hundred and sixty lines.

The thirty-six lines of discussion can be found in "Qingbo Miscellaneous Records" written by Zhou Hui in the Song Dynasty. Xu Ke said in "Qing Bailei Chao·Agricultural and Commercial Classes": "Thirty-six lines are various occupations. Based on their division of labor, they are estimated to be thirty-six lines. When doubled, it is seventy-two lines, and when it is ten, it is It’s three hundred and sixty lines.” It can be seen that thirty-six lines is just an imaginary index, not a specific number.

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Main industries

The thirty-six lines respectively refer to: meat shop, palace noodle shop, ready-made clothes shop, jade shop, ball treasure shop, Silk shop, hemp shop, jewelry shop, paper shop, seafood shop, fresh fish shop, stationery shop, tea shop, bamboo and wood shop, wine and rice shop, ironware shop, embroidery shop, needlework shop, soup shop, medicine shop Si Xing, Zha Zuo Xing, Wu Zuo Xing, Shaman Xing, Post Office Xing, Clay Xing Xing, Coffin Xing Xing, Leather Xing Xing, Gujiu Xing, Sauce Xing Xing, Firewood Xing Xing, Silk Screen Xing Xing, Flower Yarn Xing Xing, Juggling Xing Xing, Caixing Xing Xing, Drum line and flower and fruit line.