Oral History
Full oral histories, transcripts and translations.
9 records, automatically grouped from all sections.
贵州工人
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Ma Shi Fu · Brush Trimmer at the Xuan Brush Factory
The hardest part is picking out these hairs. If you don't pick them out, the brush won't write. There are bald hairs, uneven ones—uneven ones without tips—every one of them has to be plucked out.
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Cai Shi Fu · Kiln Fire Tender at the Decorative Brick Factory
"People my age—the next generation just can't do it. They don't fire kilns. Our generation is the last."
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Zhu Shi Fu · Fire-Watcher at the Decorative Brick Factory
This earthen kiln—once they've loaded it and it's time to light the fire, I'm the one in charge. From lighting it to the final firing, I handle the whole thing myself. And after it's fired, the water dousing—I do that too.
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Fang Shi Fu · Brick-Carving Worker at the Decorative Brick Factory
Anyone who does it can do it. But doing it well—that's actually not easy. The expressions on the figures, right. And flowers and things like that—flowers have their forms too, their expressions too.
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Factory Director Wu · Xuan Brush Inheritor
I started out making brush shafts, and then eventually it was research—new material applications, new product design, market promotion, including the new things I make and getting them out to market. It goes both ways. Whatever the market needs, they bring it to me and I develop it for them.
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Wang Shi Fu (plus two anonymous others) · Water-Basin Workers at the Xuan Brush Factory
In winter, when others were warming themselves by the fire, we were still working away in cold water. In summer, this part"—he gestured to his hands—"would rot.
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Jing County Decorative Brick Inheritor
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