China has a famous saying-"360 lines, each line is the best". I don't know how many years this proverb has been circulating, but it is a household name, known to all women and children.

The so-called "360 lines" refers to all walks of life, that is, social posts. As the saying goes, "knock on gongs to sell sugar and do your own thing." There have been 36 lines of records about karma since the Tang Dynasty. Hui Zhou's Qingbo Magazine in the Song Dynasty recorded meat shops, seafood shops, sauce shops, flower shops, fresh fish shops, palace powder shops, ready-made clothes shops, medicinal materials shops, tie shops, coffin shops, secondhand shops, pottery shops, funeral shops, drum music shops, juggling shops, leather goods shops and so on.

How to develop from 36 lines to "360 lines"? According to Tsui Hark's "Clearing Banknotes and Farmers", "Thirty-six walkers, various occupations. As far as its division of labor is concerned, it is 36 lines; Second, seventy-two lines; Ten is three hundred and sixty lines. " It can be seen that "360 lines" is only a rough figure. In fact, since ancient times, there have been more than "360 lines" and more than 3600 lines in the industry. However, "360 lines" is just a general number, and "360 lines" circulated by the people is a general term. It has become a natural habit for many years, which is convenient to say and sounds good. Therefore, when it comes to industry, the address is still generally called "360 lines".

In old China in the early 20th century, foreigners set up many cigarette companies in Shanghai, and then national capitalists also set up many cigarette factories. In order to compete for the cigarette market, Chinese and foreign cigarette companies have come up with new tricks, giving away a small picture for each box of cigarettes. This picture is commonly known as "smoke sign" in Shanghai and "yellow film" in Tianjin, and now it is collectively referred to as Cigarette Cards.

This is not only a gift, but also an advertisement for tobacco companies. Cigarette Cards's content is rich and colorful. Apart from China's classical novels A Dream of Red Mansions and Water Margin, there are also Peking Opera masks, animals and plants, opera figures, ladies and so on. Many tobacco companies have also published the "360 lines" of cigarette brands respectively. Although their versions are different, the industries they represent are similar, such as wonton handling, shaving, playing cotton, baking sweet potatoes, dancers and prostitutes.

At that time, Mr. Feng Yiyou's father, Mr. Sun Feng May, was a famous collector in Cigarette Cards. He has been obsessed with collecting such small pictures for decades and is second to none in old Shanghai. He has exhibited his collection in public for many times, so he has the reputation of "the king of cigarette brands in Shanghai". Now this "king" has been dead for many years. Before his death, he not only donated a large number of Cigarette Cards to related museums, but also passed on the remaining 3,000 pieces of Cigarette Cards to his son Feng Yiyou. Feng's son followed in his father's footsteps and was influenced by his father since childhood. Feng Yiyou also likes to play cigarette movies. He spent a lot of money to collect thousands of Cigarette Cards. There are different versions of "360 Line" cigarette brands in his collection. Although incomplete, it can reflect some basic information of the old "360 lines" in old China from many angles.

Now this kind of Cigarette Cards 70 or 80 years ago has become a rare product. When some collectors and folk workers knew that Feng Yi had collected Cigarette Cards's 360 Lines, they went to borrow them, some for research, and some for clarity. However, Feng Yi is too old to meet the requirements of many borrowers, so he came up with the idea of publishing 360 lines of Cigarette Cards. As luck would have it, I am very familiar with Mr. Zhang Jingyi, the editor-in-chief of China Collection Culture, published by Baihua Literature and Art Publishing House. Coincidentally, Mr. Zhang also had the idea of publishing 360 lines. When he asked me who had Cigarette Cards of 360 Lines, I introduced Feng Yiyou and they hit it off.

The book "China Lao 360 Lines" pays equal attention to both pictures and texts, especially the words, which are very difficult. Although some Cigarette Cards also has several words, the description written by the author needs about 700- 1000 words each. According to the trades provided in the picture, taking old Shanghai as a microcosm, this paper introduces the social evolution characteristics of all walks of life in the south of the Yangtze River in the past hundred years in old China from its origin, development, evolution, legends, ancestors, anecdotes and national customs, so as to make this book both historical and informative, both folk and interesting. Writing focuses on seeing the big from the small, and then truly reflects some historical features of old China. For example, the road builder, we did not simply describe how he built the road, but through the road builder, further introduced the first road built with iron quinoa wood in China; Another example is "Back Pillow", which does not stop at the specific operation of how to back the pillow, but introduces the construction and demolition of the first Songhu Railway in China history and the historical events of demolition and construction through the back pillow. ...

In addition, thirty-six lines are the general name of the main social industries in China in Tang Dynasty, which reflects the division of labor of social industries at that time. Line 36 extends the industry classification theory of line 72 or line 360 commonly used in China.

The exposition of thirty-six lines can be found in Hui Zhou's Qing Bo Zalu in the Song Dynasty. Tsui Hark said in Clearing Money, Agriculture, Industry and Commerce: "Thirty-six walkers, various occupations. As far as the division of labor is concerned, it is 36 lines, 72 lines, and 360 lines ten times. " It can be seen that line 36 is only an imaginary indicator, not a specific number.

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major industry

The thirty-six lines refer to: meat shop, palace powder shop, clothing shop, jade shop, autumn treasure shop, silk shop, hemp shop, jewelry shop, paper shop, seafood shop, fresh fish shop, furniture shop, tea shop, bamboo shop, rice shop, iron shop, ancient embroidery shop, needle and thread shop, soup shop, medicine shop, Zazuo shop and so on.