There is a saying in Luoyang: "Born in Suzhou and Hangzhou, died in Beimang". Mangshan Mountain is located in the north of Luoyang, the ancient capital of the Nine Dynasties. Since the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, it has been the funeral and geomantic treasure of emperors and dignitaries. There is a saying among the people that there is no place for lying cows in the ancient tomb of Mangshan.
Nanshishan Village is located in the hinterland of Beimang. At the end of Qing Dynasty, many colored glazed pottery relics excavated during the construction of Miro Railway and the exploration of subgrade caused a sensation in this small village. These artifacts were identified by famous domestic archaeologists Luo Zhenyu and Wang Guowei at that time, and they were confirmed to be the three-color Tang Dynasty lost for thousands of years.
Imitation technology of creating tri-color in Tang Dynasty
With the excavation of tri-colored Tang Dynasty, there was an upsurge of collecting tri-colored Tang Dynasty in China at that time, which brought opportunities to farmers in Nanshishan village who were good at restoring cultural relics. 1920s, the unearthed "Three Colors of the Tang Dynasty" were used up, and the restoration of Nanshishan people was gradually ignored. At this time, a farmer named Gao, ranked in the 27th generation of Gao's genealogy, came up with a new way after a long-term repair: he successfully copied the three colors of the Tang Dynasty. Since then, Nanshishan Village has become the resurrection place of the world-famous "Three Colors of the Tang Dynasty" craft.
Imitation technology developed in twists and turns
Because of the war and the "Cultural Revolution", the production technology of Tang Sancai high imitation in Nanshishan Village was lost twice and then "revived". By 1990, the rapid expansion of this industry has become a disaster. Due to the different scales of small workshops and small enterprises, the level and quality are high or low, and the sales channels are chaotic, many farmers set up stalls on the roadside and peddle along the street, competing to lower prices. The original mysterious "three colors of the Tang Dynasty" has become a "street commodity" and a "street commodity". That is, since then, a large number of small workshops and factories have closed down, and most of the survivors have turned to antique Tang Sancai. According to statistics, among 72 enterprises in Nanshishan Village, 44 produce antique handicrafts and 28 produce new technologies.
Different from the new technology of machine grouting in Tang Sancai, the antique Tang Sancai must be made by hand, and it needs to be buried underground after twice firing. When leaving the factory, the colors are mottled, just like newly unearthed cultural relics.
China's collection fever. The price of cultural relics has also gone up. A stolen horse with a height of 35cm can fetch several hundred thousand yuan on the black market. These seemingly antique handicrafts made by farmers in Nanshishan Village have been welcomed by cultural relics dealers from all walks of life. According to statistics, at most, more than 80% of the antiques Tang Sancai produced in Nanshishan Village were bought by traffickers and sold as genuine products.
Towards a benign development path
The environment of the cultural relic imitation village has changed. One of the changes comes from Xu Guangchun, former secretary of the Henan Provincial Party Committee. Xu Guangchun is an official who has been dealing with the media for a long time. After taking office, he put forward the strategy of "building a strong cultural province". In his view, Henan is "reaching out and touching the Han culture, stepping on the brick of Qin and the tile of Han", but the cultural resources are "not fully developed and utilized on the whole".
By 2009, with the deepening of the strategy of "building a strong cultural province", Luoyang Tangsancai characteristic cultural industry block was written into the work report of Henan provincial government. Consumers' discriminating ability is improving rapidly. It is not easy for those cultural relics dealers to sell as genuine products. Now every imitation cultural relic base has the name of the imitator, creating the brand effect of the master. On the other hand, it tends to collectivize, unify trademarks, unify after-sales, upgrade grades, become bigger and stronger, and build a sunshine industry.