Yangzhou was known as Guangling, Jiangdu and Weiyang in ancient times. It has a long history and brilliant culture. It is known as the famous capital of Huai Zuo and the best place in Bamboo West.

In the history of China, Yangzhou has experienced a general historical prosperity from the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty due to its unique geographical location and superior natural environment.

Economic prosperity naturally brought about cultural prosperity. Therefore, since ancient times, the cultural atmosphere in Yangzhou has been relatively strong. For example, Qin Guan, Du Mu, Su Shi, Ouyang Xiu, Shi Tao, Zheng Banqiao and others were either born in Yangzhou or stayed in Yangzhou for a long time.

As for jade carving alone, Yangzhou jade carving, one of the representatives of southern jade carving craftsmanship, is very famous. Even since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Yangzhou has been one of the three important jade carving sites in China.

The history of jade in China is a long history, and since ancient times, jade carvings have been divided into north and south. Northern crafts are centered on Yanjing, also known as Beijing work; Southern crafts are centered on Suzhou, also known as Suzhou, and the scope covers a large area of ​​prosperous areas such as Jinling, Yangzhou, and Changzhou.

The craftsmanship of jade carvings varies greatly from north to south, mainly reflected in style.

The southern craftsmanship is delicate, and pays more attention to the realism and fineness of the details, especially on jade ornaments; the northern craftsmanship is mostly expressed by simple knife techniques, usually leaving a large area on the jade, forming the characteristic of "sparse and can run a horse, but not airtight".

Southern workers have always "remaining good materials" and can sacrifice unnecessary parts for a fine product; while Northern workers often "reveal materials" and try to keep the integrity of the jade material as much as possible. For example, using a piece of jade of about 50 grams to carve a piece of "squirrel eating grapes", the finished product in the hands of Southern workers can reach up to 2,030 grams, while the finished product in the hands of Northern workers is estimated to be more than 40 grams.

From an artistic perspective, southern craftsmanship seeks extreme and perfection; but due to the gradual decrease in various jade materials, most collectors use weighing as one of the criteria for measuring jade carvings, which has gradually attracted the attention of southern craftsmen and began to learn from the characteristics of northern craftsmanship in this regard.

Hu Zhiyuan is a master of the Northern Arts in jade carving, but he did not introduce Northern Arts to Li Yi. Although this is related to the gradual decline of Northern Arts, the most important thing is to consider market factors.

In fact, southern labor has always been the mainstream of the market, and the most root cause is historical reasons. During the Third Qing Dynasty, southern labor was highly valued by emperors of all dynasties.

In contemporary times, southern craftsmanship has a greater influence than northern craftsmanship. Moreover, because the south gathers more masters, the overall price of jade carvings is also slightly higher than that of northern craftsmanship, thus forming a virtuous cycle.

There are many schools of Southern Engineering, divided by region, including "Shanghai Engineering", "Suzhou Engineering", "Yangzhou Engineering", "Guangdong Engineering" and "Fujian Engineering". Among them, Yangzhou Engineering is the best in Southern jade carving craftsmanship with the basic characteristics of "thick, round, elegant, elegant, and exquisite".

After Li Yi and his friends arrived in Yangzhou, they did not go to find the two masters who had contacted each other first, but instead turned around on the street. He wanted to see how well-known Yangzhou jade carvings developed to the extent.

Unlike most scattered jade carving studios in Suzhou, Yangzhou jade carvings are relatively concentrated. Over the years, jade carvings have been formed with Yangzhou Jade Carving Factory, Yangzhou Lacquer Factory and Yangzhou Arts and Crafts Museum as the leading processing and trading as the one.

"Yangzhou jade carvings are characterized by thickness, roundness, elegance, elegance and exquisiteness. Not only large enterprises such as jade carving factories, but also some small workshops often have high-quality products. This is incomparable to the relatively rough Henan factory..."

Because Zheng Shusen did not go to Jinling, he arrived two days earlier than Li Yi and the others, so he led the tour this time.

When he heard what he said, Li Yi smiled,

"It's better to say that the level of jade carving in Yangnan is indeed uneven, with more rough branches and leaves. Although there are fine products, it's impossible to compare overall, otherwise we won't have to go this trip."

"Hehe, aren't you afraid that Lao Wu will have any objections... Okay, let's visit the jade factory first. I noticed a master in the past two days. He is not old, but his skills are very good. I think, if we really want to open a company by ourselves, not only will we have masters in charge, but ordinary jade carving workers must not be missing..."

Li Yi nodded. In addition to the two masters Hu Zhiyuan introduced to him, he also planned to recruit some jade carving workers by himself. However, at the beginning, he planned to let them come forward, and now he is better if he likes him.

Several people first walked around the jade exhibition hall of the jade carving factory and looked at the overall level of the jade carving factory. Then, led by enthusiastic staff, they visited the open processing area specially set up by the jade carving factory to attract popularity.

"It's that person..."

As soon as he entered the processing area, Zheng Shusen pointed out to Li Yi the jade carver he was interested in. Li Yi followed the crowd quietly to the near the workbench of the jade carver, then stood behind him and looked at him silently.

This jade carver is about 30 years old and is at a relatively awkward age. At this age, being an ordinary jade carver is a bit big, but wanting to be a craftsman is a bit small, and there is no one to support him, let alone the works, many good materials are not his turn.

Of course, there are also people who can make a name for themselves without good materials, but overall, jade carving is still an industry with dual material carving. Without good materials, it is really difficult to make it happen.

What this man is doing is a sitting statue of Guanyin holding lotus. The material is ordinary Hetian green jade mountain material. It has been cut into rough shapes and used to rush into a thick jade piece, and polished the outline shape of the main part. Now he is using rush to open the face of the figure.

Punching, grinding, rolling and hooking are all some of the process flows of jade carving. Among them, punching, grinding, etc. are special tools for jade carving. The shape is similar to that of a cutting machine, but the size of the cutting head is different. The smallest head can be as small as a nail tip, and the largest is only three or four inches.

Li Yi stood behind the man and looked at him for about ten minutes. Seeing that he was skillful in his technique and his movements were not very standard, the handling of several parts was quite reasonable, and he couldn't help but nod. However, at this stage, he still couldn't see his specific skills. It would be great if he could have the finished product he made.

"Do you guys like Master Huang's worker? You really have a good eye. Master Huang is an old man from the jade carving factory..."

The one who led them to visit was a girl in her twenties. At this moment, she had sent most of the customers out of the processing area. Seeing that they were following Huang Lei, she came over with a smile. After briefly introducing it, she took out the jade carving album that Huang Lei had made.

Jade carving factories love to take on this kind of customized job. Not only does the profits cost more, but the amount is often relatively large.

Li Yi took the picture album and looked carefully twice, and asked:

“Is there any finished product?”

"Yes, please come with me."

The girl smiled and greeted Huang Lei, leading Li Yi and the others into the reception room specially used by the jade carving factory to receive major customers.

In the reception room, after reading several works written by Huang Lei, Li Yi basically recognized his level, and then returned the carvings in the girl's eager eyes.

"Thank you, let's take a look."

After saying that, he ignored the resentment in the other person's eyes and stood up and walked out of the room.

"This person is pretty good. You can contact him privately and see what his conditions are."

The future processing center Li Yi is planning to be located in Yanjing. After all, his materials are very precious, and if they are closer, they are more conducive to supervision. However, he is not sure whether these people are willing to leave home and go north. Even the two people Hu Zhiyuan introduced to him must be discussed carefully before they can know.

"Let's go, where else can I see?"

"The rest is the Arts and Crafts Museum, and the other is the lacquerware factory. There are quite a few small workshops in the surrounding urban villages. If the prices are appropriate, we can consider getting a batch of goods from here."

Even if it is mainly aimed at the mid-to-high-end market, it is not realistic to have all the products processed by themselves. Moreover, except for glass and some excellent ice types, Li Yi has no ordinary ice types and glutinous types. These all need to be purchased from the market, or he needs to bet on a batch to come back.

"Please, this is just a jade carving, and the rest are rubies and crystals..."

Excellent jade carvers can design their own designs, but they only design some jade ornaments and pendants. Many jewelry that use jade as auxiliary materials are not as good as specialized jewelry designers. Moreover, the materials in Li Yi's hands are not just jade, he also has rubies and crystals. In addition, if he works in jewelry companies, even if he mainly uses jade, it is inevitable to involve diamonds, yellows, and platinum. These are not simply solved by finding a few jade carving masters.

But he has no idea about these things yet. He is ready. If it is not easy to find, he might as well dig two from Wang Haoqing's company. Anyway, if it goes to the high-end, the volume of his shipments should not be too large...

After visiting the store near the Arts and Crafts Museum, Li Yi and the others rushed to the urban village near the lacquerware factory and started a door-to-door visit, not only to poach people, but also to see things.

"This is……"

After visiting several stores, Li Yi found that the level here is not much higher than that in the village in Shifo, so he lost the mood to watch it again. Just as he was about to retreat, he suddenly saw a truck driving from the entrance of the village. In the back truck, there was a huge piece of Hetian jade mountain material, weighing at least 10 tons, so he was shocked.

"Haha, this should be ordered by the village chief's family. Russian materials are not worth the money."
Chapter completed!