1、1竹编人竹编情倾听渐远的编织声 一级，二级，三级，从一楼到三楼，有 52 级台阶，每级台阶都沾满了星星点点的风干的油漆。 竹编艺人刘长泉、袁亚琴夫妇每次上下这 52 级台阶时，常常会停下来深深吸一口气，眺望一下不远的竹山。他俩仿佛觉得透过青翠的烟岚，还可以听到过往岁月里楼上楼下的欢声笑语和编织声，还可以嗅到淡淡的油漆味道。 对于这对竹编艺人，只要艺术村还在、越乡工艺竹编厂还在，他俩的竹编情结就还在，他俩对嵊州竹编始终怀有殷切的复兴的期望。 嵊州竹编曾被誉为“中外竹编第一家” ，嵊州曾被国务院命名为全国唯一的“中国竹编之乡” 。 嵊州竹编最辉煌的时代在 20 世纪七八十年代。那时手工艺相当活跃，
2、竹编的篮、盘、罐、盒、瓶、屏风以及动物造型几乎充满了生活的角角落落。 可惜，手工艺渐渐沦落，竹编的声名也不太为人知晓。只有那些对竹编倾注满腔深情的艺人，还坚守着这门手工艺。 嵊州市北直街 299 号，是当年红极一时的嵊州工艺美术竹编厂所在地。厂址如今改建成艺术村。刘长泉、袁亚琴夫妇开办的嵊州越乡工艺竹编厂就在艺术村一幢房子的三楼。这里是当年竹编厂的油漆车间，每2一件运往海内外的竹编作品都要在这里上过油漆，才能风姿绰约地走出大门。现在，繁华不再，热闹不再，一切都静了下来，也就几位老艺人还在编编织织。 往事如影相随，总在浮现。 去北京就是去天安门 1958 年 7 月 1 日，年仅 14 岁的袁亚
3、琴进了嵊县竹器木业社当学徒，是年龄最小的一位。她清楚地记得“自己是竹木社的第 58 个学徒” 。 袁亚琴天生是做竹编的料。第二年，在全社举行的编织比赛中，15岁的她得了第一名。做竹编不仅要手巧，而且要心灵，物件凸出部位要添多少篾丝，凹进部位又该如何处理，没有现成的样本，全靠自己琢磨。袁亚琴干起活来得心应手，竹丝篾丝到了她手中特别听话，她编织的动物特别有灵气， “栩栩如生，像活的一样” 。 几年过去，竹木社不断发展，改名为嵊县工艺美术竹编厂，搬到了北直街现在的艺术村所在地。而袁亚琴也已成为厂里的技术骨干，大凡有产品创新改革，样品总由她试制完成。 1964 年，留存了袁亚琴一生中最难忘的一个片段。
4、年初的一天，厂长找袁亚琴谈话，问她有没有棉衣棉裤，袁亚琴很实在地摇了摇头。厂长很遗憾地说了句“那就没办法了，去北京要被冻坏的”：原来浙江省首届工艺美术展览会在北京举办，袁亚琴被选为嵊县竹编的代表前往参加。 去北京就是去天安门！20 岁的袁亚琴充满了热烈的向往。于是，她在两条单裤里铺上棉花，用针一缝，做成一条棉裤；再裁了件灯蕊绒罩3衫罩在老棉袄外面，就算配齐了。 1964 年 2 月 10 日至 3 月 22 日，袁亚琴如愿到了北京。展览会期间，全国人大常委会副委员长郭沫若、陈叔通，国务院副总理李先念、谭震林等领导都来了，和他们这些普通劳动者一一握手，并一起吃了年夜饭。北京之行，袁亚琴拍了很多照
5、片，照片是黑白的，年久日深已经褪色，但记忆鲜活如初：国家领导人竖起大拇指赞扬了嵊县竹编的精致工艺。 见证辉煌鼎盛的时代 “再精美的工艺品，也需要订单。 ” 袁亚琴说，1978 年，因为技术精湛、又喜于表达，她被厂里委以重任从事产品销售。她跑过各地很多大饭店，有失望也有希望。 1979 年 10 月，袁亚琴订到了厂里最大的一笔单子。那次是在南京搞的旅游产品展览会上。袁亚琴带去 20 件竹编工艺品，第一天就吸引了七八位客人。客人讲上海话，一副很感兴趣的样子，但没有下单。 袁亚琴很着急，便向会务人员打听上海客人的住处。当天吃过晚饭，她拖着一个装满竹编工艺品的大纸箱直奔南京饭店。南京饭店离她住的旅馆有
6、不少路，她一边走一边问，从 6 点开始，一直走到 10 点 10 分才到达。10 月的南京还很炎热，当汗流浃背的袁亚琴敲开房门时，上海客人呆住了。 “我就以这种方式打动客人。 ”袁亚琴说，这些客人来自上海锦江饭店、和平饭店、衡山饭店，他们每人都订下了六七千元单子。 “当年，54万多元的码洋意味着什么？猪肉就 7 角多一斤。 ”袁亚琴回忆， “想想都会在梦中发笑的。 ” 此后，袁亚琴就和这些上海客人结下了深厚的情谊。他们不仅订袁亚琴的单子，还不断地给她介绍新客户。在他们眼里，袁亚琴就是嵊县竹编的金名片、代言人。 每年各地的博览交易会，袁亚琴一次不落地参加，北上南下，会会老朋友，结识新朋友。在这“
7、会会”与“结识”中，单子像雪片一样飞来，有一年袁亚琴订到了 180 万元码洋。 从 1980 年起，袁亚琴又兼搞外销，参加广州春交会、秋交会，有时还有北京、上海的展会。她说那时候自己“又苦又累” ， “最多一年有 215天在外面跑销售” 。 袁亚琴见证了 1985 年至 1989 年嵊县竹编最辉煌鼎盛的时期：厂里有 400 多名职工，全县几乎每个村子都有他们的初加工作坊。那些年，嵊县工艺美术竹编厂职工走路的脚步特别坚实铿锵。 爱人的 9 月缘分 袁亚琴爱人刘长泉的竹编生涯，似乎跟 9 月有缘。 1962 年 9 月，17 岁的刘长泉进嵊县竹器木业社做工；1980 年 9 月，被调去嵊县包装装潢
8、厂任副厂长；1998 年 9 月，又调回嵊州工艺美术竹编厂任新一任厂长。 在任厂长前，刘长泉对竹编的情感比较平淡：当学徒，出师；当工人，干活。有人问刘长泉他俩是怎样相识结婚的，他竟也回答不出个所以然，只是说，那时老婆很忙， “甚至连坐下来谈恋爱的时间都没有” 。 5袁亚琴为竹编忙，刘长泉为包装装潢忙。 从 20 世纪 90 年代起，竹制生活用品逐渐失去市场，竹编工艺品也受到影响。1998 年 9 月，在包装装潢厂显露领导与管理才能的刘长泉奉调竹编厂，上级希望他能延续昔日辉煌。 刘长泉回到竹编厂后，第一件事就是召开职工代表会议，倾听他们的建议和意见。这些人大都是竹编厂兴旺时期的见证人，对竹编工艺
9、怀有深厚的情感。大家一致表示，想要振兴竹编厂，一定要叫业已退休的袁亚琴回来。举贤不避亲。袁亚琴就这样重回竹编厂，她以前的营销方法与客户建立深厚感情，一并沿袭。 1999 年 3 月，竹编厂接到省里通知，编制一件迎接澳门回归的大型竹编作品。又是在 9 月，这件由刘长泉主持创作、名为沧海还珠的作品完成。作品造型是两条矫健的蟠龙，踩水波，踏祥云，上下翻卷腾跃，吞吐的金色龙涎托出一颗璀璨夺目的宝珠。蟠龙的飞舞，水浪的飞溅，云彩的飞动，表现出神采明快的精神：浙江第一，中国第一，世界第一。 这件作品让嵊州竹编再次走进媒体和公众的视野。 期盼竹编的春天 当年，袁亚琴退休、走出竹编厂大门时，忍不住放声大哭起来
10、，她的青春年华都留给了这里，这里的一草一木、一砖一瓦都与她息息相关。但是，袁亚琴这辈子注定要吃竹编饭的。 2002 年，竹编厂实行改制，刘长泉、袁亚琴夫妇以沧然的心情买下6了它。面对空阶荒草，他俩怎么也不相信江南竹乡的传统手工艺行将消失。 嵊州竹编以造型精巧、编织细腻、气韵生动而著称。袁亚琴忆起1982 年有过的辉煌：“烫金花瓶”在广交会一次性成交 36 万只，开创了新纪录。 袁亚琴又忆起 1979 年邓小平访美，嵊州竹编白尾海雕作为国礼被送进白宫，得到时任美国总统卡特的赞誉；1986 年，大型嵊州竹编昭陵六骏送展英国，戴安娜王妃前来剪彩，轰动英伦三岛当其时，嵊州竹编畅销到了日本、美国、意大利
11、、德国等 80 多个国家和地区，赢得了“东方珍宝” “世上精品”的赞誉。 总会有人记得嵊州竹编的。2006 年 5 月，嵊州竹编被国务院批准列入第一批国家级非物质文化遗产项目之中。之后，曾编织过篱笆、女人、狗 麻姑献寿 门狮等上千件精品的袁亚琴，成为这一技艺的省级传承人。 这几年，竹编行业越来越萧条，越乡竹编工艺厂也只有少数老客户的订单。厂里从事编织的也就 10 多位职工，他们都是和刘长泉、袁亚琴夫妇一样对竹编有着深深情结的老艺人。 每天平淡地上班下班，但刘长泉、袁亚琴夫妇思绪起伏如竹海波涛。竹编厂旧址还在，竹编老艺人还在，竹编的根应当还在。 （本文照片由作者提供） The staircase
12、 stretches 52 steps from the ground floor to the third floor. Unlike some other staircases， this one is 7spattered with paints and connects Liu Changquan and Yuan Yaqins bamboo weaving workshop on the third floor with the outside world. The factory is at 299 Beizhi Street， Shengzhou， a county-level
13、city in eastern Zhejiang， a coastal province in the east of China. The three-storied house used to be part of an arts and crafts factory where the couple once worked. Today， the third floor of the building on the previous factory site houses a small bamboo-weaving business the couple operates. The t
14、hird-floor used to be a workshop where finished products were painted before they were shipped out to the overseas market. Yuan Yaqin came to work for the bamboo-wood factory on July 1， 1958. She was 14 years old and she still remembers today that she was the 58th apprentice of the business. She was
15、 talented. At 15， she came out first in a factory-wide competition for bamboo-weaving skills. Over years， she grew up to be product developer. Whenever a new product was designed， she was the one who produced the first product. One day in early 1964， the factory director and Yuan had a brief convers
16、ation. The director asked whether she had thick jacket and trousers for the winter. She didnt ask why and answered honestly that she didnt have any thick winter cloths padded 8with cotton. The director then said she wouldnt stand the extreme cold of Beijing without any padded cloths. It turned out t
17、hat she had been picked to take part in the first Zhejiang Arts and Crafts Exhibition in Beijing on the behalf of the bamboo-weaving industry of Shengxian County. Nothing could stop her from going. She made a pair of make-do padded trousers by putting two pants together and stuffed cotton in between
18、. She was in Beijing from February 10 to March 22， 1964. State leaders visited the exhibition and had Spring Festival dinner with all the craftspeople at the exhibition. The years from 1978 to 1989 saw the arts and crafts factory prosper. The bamboo products sold well on the internet market. And Yua
19、n was the major promoter and she got the biggest number of contracts. In one year she signed contracts worth 1.8 million yuan. Back then it was a huge fortune. From 1985 to 1989， the factory did extremely well. That year， the factory employed more than 400 craftsmen and almost every village had a wo
20、rkshop where the rudimentary process was done. But the market for bamboo-woven household pieces slumped after 1989. And the factory went under. If the wife is a master of bamboo weaving and great saleswoman， then the husband is a good manager. He came to the 9factory in 1962 and in 1989 he was trans
21、ferred to work as a manager in another factory in the county. In 1998， he was appointed new director of the bamboo-weaving factory where he had worked for 18 years and met Yuan and married her. After the new appointment， he talked with the remaining employees of the factory to see what could be done
22、 to bring the factory back. They made suggestions. One of them was that the new directors wife must come back. They knew she loved the factory all her life and the art of bamboo weaving. She cried when walking out of the factory on the day she retired. Moreover， she knew where to find buyers. The co
23、meback was brief. In 1999， the factory made its last brilliant masterpiece， a bamboo-woven artwork done in celebration of Hong Kongs return to the sovereignty of the motherland. In 2002， Yuan and Liu bought the factory out and became the owners. They havent brought the factory back to its old glory.
24、 Nowadays， there are only ten plus bamboo weavers working at the factory on the third floor for a small number of orders. Fortunately， the bamboo weaving of Shengzhou was inscribed in May 2006 on the first national list of intangible cultural heritage approved by the State Council. Yuan， who made nearly 101，000 bamboo-weaving masterpieces， is now a bamboo weaving master recognized by the provincial government.
