The video shows the road of the eleventh running account.
Sitting in the dust all the year round, laughing at the full gait of pedestrians.
Thirty years of tinkering, dirty hands make ingenuity.
? -Go to the shoemaker.
Repairing shoes used to be a business with great feelings of life. A shoemaker is a manual "artist" who specializes in repairing worn-out shoes. They make a living by it and support their families with the money they earn from repairing shoes. With the progress of society, their "artworks" are facing the embarrassing situation that no one "appreciates", and shoemakers are gradually declining. What is the living condition of shoemakers now, and what is the situation of shoe repair industry? Next, we interviewed an old shoemaker in Chashan Town, ouhai district, Wenzhou, and told you about a shoemaker's mending life.
The owner's surname is Zhao, but I don't know his name. When asked his age, he only said that he was almost 60. To be honest, at first glance, I think Master Zhao is more like a gangster than a shoemaker.
I learned from my friends that there was a shoe repairer in town, so I went with my classmates with my camera and an interview prepared in advance. The first time I went after class in the afternoon, at about 4: 30 in the afternoon, the sunset was beautiful, and the two of us rode a small electric donkey. The trees on both sides of the road kept flashing backwards, and the wind blew my long hair, which made me nervous.
I decided in advance to shoot the scene in the street. I sat in the back seat of a small electric donkey, carrying a SLR and photographing the street view on the road. We photographed the streets and alleys of the town all the way, and there was a smell of life everywhere, including the sound of selling, neighborhood chatting, the sudden sound of motorcycles and the sound of middle school students fighting. It's my first time here, and I can't find my target. We found the fruit shop facing the street and inquired. Under the guidance of the store manager's grandfather, we successfully found the shoemaker in Hutongkou.
One person and one car sit in the northeast corner of the alley, backed by the clothing store on the corner, with only one square meter of clothing store eaves to rely on.
I saw a man sitting in front of a carriage, with his head sideways and the people on the side talking and laughing. The man in front of the booth is the shoemaker we are looking for. He is wearing a wide-brimmed hat with a gray zongzi color and a long-sleeved coat with a gray-black edge. There is a black sweater inside, and both cuffs have small sleeves. In order to prevent dust, the sleeves are also gray zongzi color. There are two walnut strings at the wrist, just like gadgets that old Beijingers often play with in their hands. There is also a silver watch on the left wrist, which is antique style. The wide silver chain at both ends connects the dial in the middle, which reminds me of the antique watch my grandmother put in her handkerchief, which was a popular style in their time. The master still carries a black wallet around his waist, which is neither flat nor bulging. When the host was sitting there, the wallet fell on his lap. There is a small white bucket under the right foot, and the lid of the bucket is gently placed on it, revealing half a bucket of water that is not clear inside.
The trolley in front of the owner consists of four wheels, a bucket and a trolley handle. Four small wheels support a car bucket, and there is a board on the car bucket, which is the master's daily workbench; Hopper is used to store car repair tools; On the right hand side is a tall long pole with an apron reserved by the master. Sparrows are small and complete.
The workbench is not very tidy. There is a wooden sign on the right front of it, which says "Master Zhao" and contact information. This is Master Zhao's simple signboard. Behind the signboard is a machine like a tailor, which seems to be the most valuable thing in the whole stall. The copper fuselage is rusted in some places, and polished in some places due to frequent use. Scissors, thread, glue, rubber, etc. used to repair shoes are scattered on the workbench next to the machine, which is all the belongings of the shoe repairer. These simple tools accompany the master to mend a pair of shoes.
There is a pair of shoes in the upper left corner of the workbench. In master Zhao's words, "a shoe repairer has to put on a pair of shoes so that others will know what you do." Just like the three-color rotating lights in front of the hair salon, the wine flag in front of the restaurant, and the pig's head hanging in the butcher shop, from the advertiser's point of view, this is the true face of advertising.
After chatting with Master Zhao and explaining his purpose, he easily agreed to our interview and filming, and said to us, "Remember to make me handsome and help me publicize it." To our surprise, Master Zhao is a humorous person and speaks standard Mandarin. In front of the camera, apart from being a little unnatural, I can actually talk about Kan Kan. The hooligan mentioned at the beginning also comes from the master's humorous language and his not so old appearance.
The interview was improvised the night before. After clarifying the shooting purpose and theme, I chatted with Master Zhao about the preparations:
"What time do you come here every day? What time does it close at night? "
"Come at seven in the morning and go back at six in the evening."
"What's the income of a day?"
"More than one hundred, more than two hundred"
……
I have a thorough understanding of the basic working hours and the time to do this job.
Master Zhao is from Anhui. He studied with his master when he was young. After graduation, he and his friends went to Shanghai Hongqiao to repair shoes. The poor man's cloth shoes and the rich man's sneakers passed through his hand. More than 20 years ago, I moved to Wenzhou under the relationship of fellow villagers. At that time, Wenzhou was in the spring breeze of reform and opening up, and the name of "shoe capital" was also famous throughout the country. At that time, people had no shoes to wear, so they changed into new economic strength. Master Zhao was still young at that time.
Chatting and chatting, Master Zhao came to do business. An international student from Africa asked a master to repair shoes. They are orange sneakers. He was a little shy when he saw us shooting the video. When he saw a foreign brother, we seemed to have discovered a new continent. We walked over and asked him in my broken spoken English, "Do you often come here to repair shoes?" "Yes, sometimes!" In fact, I really want to say it, but I can't think of any problems for the time being and sigh for my shy oral English. After seeing my brother off, Master Zhao told us about the international students. They can speak simple Chinese, and the locals teach them how to describe their shoes. Master Zhao also said that occasionally, foreign students come here because the living conditions are not very good, and some simply don't want to waste.
Master learned to repair shoes for the first time because of poor health. He said that if someone wears shoes, someone will fix them. As long as someone is in this business, repairing shoes is not stealing or robbing. It's labor. People have to move forward and make money. When asked about the inheritance of craftsmanship, Master Zhao's answer made us laugh. He said that anyone who wants to learn to repair shoes is something that people who have no strength and skills do. I asked him, "What if someone wants to learn from you?" "If not, there is no if."
When it comes to whether it will be boring to do the same thing all my life, Master Zhao seems to have been asked a question that he can't spit out, so he started a conversation with me. He pointed to the man on the opposite road, and we looked in the direction he pointed. Then he explained, "It's very interesting to sit in an alley every day, watching the streets where people come and go, and guess what this person is thinking, why that person looks sad, why he stopped halfway, then remembered something and went back." Master Zhao's remarks are very open-minded, and I appreciate his attitude towards life.
After chatting for a few minutes, another grandmother came with her grandson to repair his little leather shoes. Maybe she saw the baby cute. Master Zhao teased his grandson with a kind smile on his wrinkled face.
In the previous chat, I learned that Master Zhao has been a bachelor all his life. I have been a shoemaker since I came out of the mountains to learn my craft. This persistence is 30 years, and I have never met the right person. This single life is a lifetime. He showed us the alley across the street. Go straight and turn left, that's where he stays. Cook alone and eat alone. Sometimes I'm tired of chatting, just because the master has no business at hand. He will also pick up his mobile phone to chat on WeChat, and occasionally call me to see what he is chatting with others, listening to the smile in his tone, as if laughing at his loneliness. He was tired all his life, but he was lonely all his life.
Passers-by saw us interviewing Master Zhao, and all the neighbors familiar with Master Zhao came to watch the fun. We interviewed several passers-by during the break. They said: the master is very nice, the price is fair, and the craft is good. People from nearby come to him to repair shoes. One of them is an old man who drives an electric tricycle to carry people for a living. Ten minutes after seeing the guests off, he answered the interview questions and praised Master Zhao. He said that there are not many conscientious masters like Master Zhao in this era. Indeed, the times are progressing, and batches of occupations are being eliminated. There are fewer and fewer people who make a living by craft, but it has become a rare profession.
The last business was an uncle riding a motorcycle, a middle-aged man, wearing a helmet and looking for a pair of black high boots to repair shoes. Master Zhao picked up the shoes, studied them for a while, put them down, wiped his hands with a rag on the workbench, then picked up the shoes, found the hole in the shoes, put them under the sewing machine, pressed the hole with his left hand, and turned the turntable of the sewing machine with his right hand, accompanied by "bang bang bang". Hand the repaired shoes to the guests, and the middle-aged uncle will pay. Master Zhao said forget it this time, let's talk about it next time. He waved like God, doing trivial things, but warming the hearts of passers-by.
After this Singles' Day, it was already dark, and Master Zhao began to pack up and prepare to go home. He packed his tools and put them in the back seat of the car, then took down the signboard and laid it flat on the workbench. Finally, he took off the apron on the pole, whipped the dust off it twice and carried it on his shoulder, which was quite chivalrous. Say that finish, he lifted the white bucket at his feet, conveniently poured the water under the eaves at his feet, and the water flowed down the steps of ten centimeters to the road. Master Zhao picked up the broom hanging from the downpipe, swept away the accumulated water, and hung it back. Put all this in order, lift the chair on the ground and buckle it upside down on the workbench. After saying goodbye to us, Master Zhao pushed all his belongings back. When his figure gradually disappeared, we arranged the equipment and recorded it.
In order to better understand the shoemaker's living conditions, we asked Master Zhao about the next day's stall time and made an appointment to see him the next morning. The master readily agreed. But we broke our word. The next morning, I set the wrong alarm clock, overslept and my classmates didn't get up early, so I pushed it directly to the third day.
On the third day, we got up early in the morning, and a group of four people rode a battery car to the alley. Fortunately, they came earlier than the master and didn't miss the master's stall time. At about 7: 15 in the morning, the master wheeled his car and slowly appeared in the opposite alley. My friend quickly took out his camera and recorded this scene. I said hello to the master and watched him slowly set up a stall.
Just like last night's action, it was this morning's stall. The master parked the car first, took off the top chair, and began to slowly sort out the tools on the workbench, put on the signboard and put on the shoes. To do all this well, the master got half a bucket of water from nowhere, then sat in a chair, took out a grindstone, a grinding cloth and a scraper from the car bucket, and started the first thing of work-sharpening the knife. Master Zhao said: "Only by sharpening the knife quickly can it be convenient to repair shoes, and the business of the day can be done." Master Zhao holds a knife in his right hand, puts the blade on the grindstone, closes his left hand, presses it hard with his right hand and pushes it back and forth rhythmically. Master Zhao's body was also shaken by hand and ground for about a dozen times. The master stopped, pulled some water from the bucket with his right hand, poured it on the grindstone, washed away the rust on it, and then continued his action. When it was almost polished, he picked up the knife and looked at it carefully at the moment. One hand grinds faster, and the other hand changes. With the rustle of sharpening the knife, Master Zhao started his sewing work for another day. ...
Then, for the completeness of the documentary, we took a few more shots until we knew the details of the profession. They are diligent and conscientious all their lives, and they don't make much money, and they are not that great. They are like a screw, spinning around shoes and tools all their lives, but they are transparent and open-minded.
May time slow down, give the world more time and leave a little room for craftsmen to show themselves.
This article pays tribute to the working people and craftsmen.