这家毛笔店开了118年，老板说，“只要有人还用毛笔写字，我就会一直做下去”|Chinese Ink Brush

https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?vid=b0730lzl3fr&width=500&height=375&auto=0

The ink brush is one of the Four Treasures of study in China. They are used in Chinese paintings and Chinese calligraphy with rich cultural connotations. Some famous artists even have the brushes exclusively made for them. 

毛笔是中国的文房四宝之一，可用作书写和绘画，有着许多讲究。许多名士甚至拥有自己专用的名笔。

Nowadays, ink brushes are not as widely used in China. Yet the brush making skills are passed on through generations of craftsmen.

现在，在中国，毛笔已经不再是一种日常用具，但毛笔制作的手艺依然在一代代制笔人的努力下传承下来。

Xu Wenyi is born in Wenzhou city, Southeastern China's Zhejiang Province. The 58-year-old runs an ancestral ink brush shop with his two brothers.

许文义是温州人，今年58岁。他和家中两个兄弟共同经营着祖传的毛笔店。

The shop was established in 1900 by Xu's grandfather Xu Jinfang. It was in the late Qing dynasty. 13-year-old Xu Jinfang became an apprentice at an ink brush shop, before he started his own business. His son, Xu Jinhua also began to learn the craftsmanship at the age of 13, and inherited the shop when he was ready.

这家店于1900年开张，创始人是许文义的祖父许进芳。时值晚清，许进芳13岁时成为毛笔店学徒，出师后开设了自己的毛笔店。他的儿子许锦华亦在13岁时跟着父亲学习手艺，并子承父业。

After the founding of New China, the shop was once transformed into a cooperative. Xu Jinfang and his son went to work together for an ink brush factory. During China's reform and opening-up period, they reopened the shop and hanged a board in the front saying "time-honored brand."

这一家毛笔店在新中国成立后曾改为合作社，许进芳和许锦华做了一段时间毛笔厂工人。改革开放之后，他们又重新回到店里，挂起了老字号的牌匾。

Xu Wenyi and his brothers are the third generation of the family shop. It is the only hand-made ink brush shop in Wenzhou city. In 2008, it was listed as Wenzhou city's Intangible Cultural Heritage.

到了许文义兄弟手上，这家店已经传到了家族的第三代。目前，它是温州地区仅存的一家全手工制笔店，并在2008年被列入温州市非物质文化遗产名录。

For over a century, the shop has witnessed many changes of history, yet sticks with the traditional techniques. After the retirement of Xu Jinhua, his three sons quit their jobs to inherit and develop the shop together. They have been told by their father that "Together you brothers are the strongest."

一百多年来，这家毛笔店经历和见证了诸多历史的斗转星移，但依然坚持着传统的制笔手法。许锦华退休后，许家三兄弟纷纷辞去自己原本的工作，回来各展所长，继承店铺。这都源于父亲“兄弟齐心、其利断金”的教导。

There are about 40 processes to make an ink brush. The very first thing is to select the materials. Every winter, when the animals' hair is in the best condition, Xu Wenyi goes to Zhejiang Province's Huzhou city and Jiangxi Province to order the hair for the whole year.

制作一支毛笔的工序多达三四十套。最开始的一项，就是选料。每年冬天，趁着动物的毫毛最齐，锋头最好，许文义就会到湖州、江西一代选好整年的毛料。

Then they use combs made of cattle bones to screen the hair. It's a monotonous job and an easy way to hurt your fingers. "The screening process may take days, even a week, before you get a small strand of brush hair. It requires a lot of patience and persistence."

接下来，便要用骨板梳理脱脂的毛发，对毛料进行筛选。这项工作枯燥乏味，而且很容易让手指受伤：“单单筛毛一道工序就需要好几天，有时甚至要一周时间才能筛出短短的一撮笔头，要是没有那么点恒心和耐心，是绝对做不了的。”

After the picking process, the hair has to be aligned and cut for brushes of various sizes. The Xu brothers can make over 40 kinds of ink brushes. In the hand of experienced craftsmen, combinations of hair with different lengths and textures could make brushes with different applications. "There's the longest hair, and about 5 types of shorter hair."

毛料选好后，要齐峰。将毛峰排列整齐，以便根据不同尺寸的毛笔的需求改刀。许家制的毛笔品种有40多种。根据制笔人的经验，不同长短、韧度的毛料相配，能制作出不同手感、适合不同用途的毛笔。“有最长的毛，下面陪衬的大概有5、6种档次长短的毛。”

When the hair is finally ready, they can start to bind it, make the handle and engrave on it. Thus an ink brush is finished. 

将毛料根根制备妥当后，就可以扎笔头、配笔杆，刻上字。这样，一根毛笔才算完成。

To keep up with the times, the brothers developed new businesses like making lanugo brushes. It features hair cut from new-born babies. It is very memorable so it attracts many new parents. The brothers also take part in cultural exhibitions and show the making techniques on site. Their efforts have aroused more interest in ink brushes.  

为了顺应时代，三兄弟也与时俱进，承接了一些新业务，比如制作“胎毛笔”。胎毛笔用初生婴孩第一次剪下来的头发制成，具有美好的纪念意义，这吸引了许多年轻的父母。有时候，他们还参与文化展，现场演示制作毛笔的过程，这也令不少人对毛笔产生兴趣。

The most important customers are always painters and calligraphers. Hu Sanyuan, a famous calligrapher praised it saying: "The outer layer is soft wool, while the inner layer is pretty elastic. It's like traditional Tai Chi that perfectly merges the two opposite elements." A friend of the brothers, who's also a calligraphy lover, said that their brushes really can "improve the efficiency."

但他们最重要的客人，还是对毛笔要求很高的书画家。书法家胡三元就盛赞三兄弟所做的毛笔：“外面这层羊毛比较柔软，然后里面又很有劲道，两个结合起来就像我们中国传统文化打太极拳一样，刚柔相济。”三兄弟的好友，一名书法爱好者则称赞他们的毛笔真正称得上“得心应手”。

"We want to pass the skills on, as long as there're people writing with ink brushes," said Xu. "Making good brushes for people so that they can create great works, I think that is also a legacy of virtue.”

“只要有人还用毛笔写字，我们还是想把这门手艺传承下去。”许文义说，“能做好一支毛笔让人使用，写好一个字，画好一幅画，我觉得也是一种美德的传承。”

Cameraman: Tan Di

Film editor: Tan Di, Lu Gengrui

Story written by: Zhu Siqi

English editor: Melissa Chua

往期链接：

Suggestions and Cooperation

请读者广提建议，您的建议很重要

投稿与合作：[e-mail]