Most of the traditional button making raw materials are shells.

Hand-made buttons are now only visible in museums.

The button process continues to innovate, and the constant is the craftsman's heart.

Chen Aizhong used to be the old style of traditional button making. Now he has become a staff member of the button museum. The old craftsmanship has become a live and invisible display project.

Tao Yunlin is a representative inheritor of traditional shell button making techniques and currently runs a clothing accessories company.

After the blank button blanks need to be polished and shaped.

On the production line, workers are sorting buttons.

Dagu button industry has attracted a large number of migrant workers to come here for gold.

The traditional button making technique has a history of more than 100 years. Today, it has continued to innovate in its inheritance.

There is a “button museum” in the ancient town of Xitang, which displays an array of ancient and modern buttons and various kinds of deduction machines. The small buttons tell people with their unique rhythm about the hometown of Chinese buttons—Dagu Village, Xitang Town, Jiashan County. A beautiful and long history of deduction.

The small button with a unit price of one hundred millimeters seems to be the most insignificant small business, but it embodies the perseverance of the big button craftsmen; through inheritance and innovation, they have achieved a button industry with an annual output value of 7 billion yuan, occupying the The domestic button market's "half of the country." The companies here produce more than 100 billion buttons each year, which is equivalent to providing more than 10 buttons per year for each person in the world.

Traditional craftsmanship is preserved

Into the ancient town of Xitang, along the long count to go to the end, the ancient Chinese button Museum hidden in the old streets and lanes.

The most eye-catching display in the museum is the whole process of handcrafting a shell button with traditional utensils. Chen Aizhong, a 60-year-old from Dagu Village, Xitang Town, used to be the old style of traditional button making. With the transformation and development of the shell button industry, he has now become a museum staff member. The old craftsmanship has become a living thing. Showcase the project.

When there are many tourists, Lao Chen will have a special sense of ritual. He said that these button making tools are the most traditional and have a history of more than 100 years. Today, there are only one or two remaining parts in Xitang Town.

Do not look at the buttons, the craft is not simple, making a shell button to go through seven processes. In the production process, not only the foot step is needed to make the tool work, but also the control of the hand is needed, and the hands and feet must be used together. It must have a considerable degree of proficiency.

The first process is blanking, and the production of raw materials is mostly sea shells, river rafts, etc.; the second step is grinding the surface, using a tool with a grinding wheel to smooth the surface of the fallen button blanks; the third step is to shape, in the rough Grind the edges, grooves, etc. on the surface. Master Chen clamped the buttons with the fixture and then pushed the turning tool. The groove of the turning tool determined the shape of the buttons. The tool for punching the button is called the eye striker. The button is clamped with a clamp. The eye wheel is manually turned and the hole is set. These are just preliminary shapes, followed by peeling, bleaching and polishing.

Industrial Development Innovates in Inheritance

Traditional button making techniques are the folk practical production techniques inherited from generation to generation in the Xitang area. Button production in Jiashan County is mainly concentrated in Dagu Village in Xitang Town, which is home to the famous Chinese button.

Tao Yunlin followed his father Tao Fuyun to learn how to make shell buttons. In 1983, he started the family button factory. In 2009, he was listed as a provincial representative inheritor. Traditional button making skills were included in the third batch of Zhejiang intangible cultural heritage.

Tao Yunlin, 60, currently runs a clothing accessories company in Dalat. He told us that the traditional equipment and craftsmanship can only be seen in the button museum. Buttons on the factory's production line are not limited to shells as raw materials, but also metal and plexiglass; the production process is also more convenient, through the conveyor belt, grinding, although some links still need to hand-made, but most of the mechanization.

Today, there are thousands of button factories in Dagu Village, and Tianluda can be considered as the “leader” among them. As one of the largest button manufacturing companies in the region, its annual output of buttons exceeds 100 million pieces. Inheritance and innovation are the secrets of corporate development. The buttons they have produced have successfully declared 5 invention patents, 14 utility model patents and 98 design patents. They have been used to produce leaders of APEC conferences. Enterprises also participate in the formulation of national button industry standards.

In the product showroom, we saw a magical "color change button", which is the company's latest successful patent application. It can display different colors according to the intensity of ultraviolet light, and is mainly used for sun protection of outdoor operators and swimming enthusiasts. Once it came out, it was ordered by many clothing companies. "Discolored buttons" are four times the price of ordinary buttons, and the added value of products is greatly enhanced. Yu Shanfeng, the person in charge of the company, said that in addition to the development and inheritance of traditional craftsmanship, traditional enterprises still need to innovate in order to achieve new heights; for the entire button industry, attention to innovation and creativity is even more crucial.


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