N-M Chapter 54 Approval
Chapter 54 Approval
A few days after Investigator Zheng left, the province issued an official notice.
Wang Cunzhi delivered the document to the service station on his motorcycle. The official document bore the joint seal of the Provincial Fisheries Department and the Culture Bureau.
The title is a line of eye-catching bold text: Notice on Organizing On-site Review and Technical Level Certification of Inheritors of Traditional Crafts.
The review date was set around the time of the Frost's Descent solar term, and the expert group was led by Engineer Zhou from the Provincial Ship Inspection Bureau.
The team included intangible cultural heritage protection specialists from the Provincial Bureau of Culture, technical staff from the Fisheries Department, and an old sewer master from Zhoushan, surnamed Chen, who was over seventy years old and whose skills were said to be no less than those of Qiu Changhai.
The notice clearly states that after the review is approved...
Qiu Changhai's name will be officially included in the provincial list of inheritors of traditional skills protection, and the province will also determine his technical level with reference to the standards of senior technicians.
Jiang Haiping read the notice twice from beginning to end, and then folded a corner of the page about the review process.
The review process consists of three parts: on-site skill demonstration, physical verification of the works, and Q&A session on lineage and inheritance.
The on-site demonstration required the inheritor to independently complete a grout line of no less than two feet in front of the expert group. From carving the groove to installing the panel to grouting, the entire process must not exceed the prescribed time.
The physical verification of the works involves examining the boats that have been repaired over the years. The expert team will randomly select a few registered wooden fishing boats and go to the site to check if the seam at the bottom of the boat is still there and if it is leaking.
The lineage defense involves questions from the expert panel, and the inheritor must answer on the spot about the origin of the skill, the apprenticeship situation, and the key points of the core techniques.
The attached page to the notice also included the scoring criteria, with a score for each item.
Old Fang squatted at the workshop entrance, finished smoking a cigarette, took the notice, read it from beginning to end, and when he handed it back to Jiang Haiping, he said, "This is like the factory's evaluation of eighth-grade workers back in the day."
Qiu Changhai sat by the stone trough, twirling walnuts in his hand. After listening to Lao Fang's words, he put the walnuts in his pocket and walked over to ask for the notice.
He read very slowly, moving down line by line, and paused when he saw the line "Complete at least two feet of grouting independently on site".
Return the notice to Jiang Haiping, saying that the batch of wooden fishing boats that would be deployed in the fall is about to be put into service, and to select one with the longest seam on the bottom so that the expert team can inspect it from beginning to end.
He also said that this was how they were evaluated for technical excellence in the factory back then: one worktable, three evaluators, and a group of people around them, doing things like chipping and sewing.
Over the next few days, everyone at the service station was focused on the review, but it wasn't the kind of hectic busyness; it was the kind of orderly process of tidying up the house and welcoming guests.
Lin Xiu'e took out all the chisels Qiu Changhai had used over the years, one by one, and used cotton yarn soaked in machine oil to wipe them from the blade to the handle.
The blade of the chisel I usually use has been worn down by half, and the handle has been worn smooth and shiny by my palms. There are indelible marks of tung oil putty embedded in the wood grain.
The spare narrow-bladed chisel is specifically designed for chiseling narrow crevices at bends; it has a narrower blade and a steeper curve.
There was an even older chisel with a crack in the handle, which had been reinforced with two loops of copper wire.
That chisel was passed down to her by Qiu Changhai when he first returned from his hometown. She used it for a long time and won first place in the provincial competition with it. Later, the service station bought a new lathe, and Qiu Changhai used scrap bearing steel to make two new ones for her. She returned the old one to the old parts shelf.
She wiped the rust off the old chisel clean, wrapped it in cotton yarn, and put it in the innermost layer of her tool bag.
Ah Guang flipped through the register from beginning to end, copying each of the registered wooden fishing boats into the new register.
The ship's name, owner, repair date, repair location, and seamstress were all checked again.
He paused when he got to Old Sun's sampan. That boat had been under repair since it was a service station or a boat repair shop. The barnacles grew every year, and the planks were replaced every few years. The records in the register spanned from the first to the sixth book.
He circled Old Sun's sampan separately and wrote a few words in the remarks column: "The boat is over 20 years old and has been repaired many times. It is recommended to include it in the physical verification list."
Then, from the corner of the old parts warehouse, they dug out the training boards that Lin Xiue had used to practice before the provincial competition, wiped them clean one by one with a damp cloth, and arranged them according to their numbers.
Every groove on these training boards was carved out by her chisel, one by one. Some grooves were carved too deep, some too shallow, and some curves were not smooth enough.
Ah Guang remarked each item on the register. These boards were a complete record of the service station's training of apprentices from the time they were taken on until they graduated.
Ahai led Hong Xiaobing to rearrange the row of wooden fishing boats awaiting repair at the dock, moving the ones with the longest seams at the front.
When the ship owner heard that an expert team was coming, he pushed the ship over without saying a word.
Old Zhou checked the sampan, whose grooves had just been cut, again to make sure the new boards were properly fitted.
Old Sun pushed the old sampan from the innermost part of the stone trough onto the boat raft, and used cotton yarn to wipe the old seams on the bottom of the boat clean. He said that these seams were sewed by Master Qiu many years ago, and not a drop of water has leaked since. He invited the expert team to come and see, saying that this is true craftsmanship.
After finishing work in the evening, Jiang Haiping went through Qiu Changhai's lineage chart one last time.
The list reads from top to bottom: Master Chen, a native of Ningbo, a master seamstress specializing in whale oil, now deceased.
Master Chen Baojin, a direct disciple of my grandmaster, possessed the most exquisite skills and is now deceased.
Qiu Changhai, a third-generation craftsman, apprenticed under Chen Baojin and has 40 years of experience in grouting. His core philosophy is that a well-made grout that doesn't leak isn't the best; the best grout is one that, even after decades, is still white and the tung oil putty is still moist.
Master Song, a fourth-generation master, apprenticed under Qiu Changhai and independently sews, passing on his skills.
Lin Hsiu-e, fourth generation, apprenticed under Chiu Chang-hai, senior craftsman, currently passing on her skills. Her unique technique combines line drawing with visual observation, and she uses old pine boards with precise control of force.
Xiao Zhou, the fifth generation, apprenticed under Master Song and independently sews, continuing the tradition.
Ding Haisheng, a welder who also specializes in grouting, is an apprentice of Qiu Changhai and is currently working in the industry.
Hong Xiaobing, a novice in sewing, is a student of Qiu Changhai and is taught by Lin Xiue.
Jiang Haibo started as a seamstress under the tutelage of Qiu Changhai and Lin Xiu'e.
Each name is followed by a note indicating the skills learned, the lineage of the teacher, and the current skill level.
Next to the genealogy chart was a stack of physical verification lists, totaling dozens of wooden fishing boats. Each list included the boat owner, repair date, seam location, and follow-up visit record.
Jiang Haiping tucked an old photograph into the last page of the document.
The photo shows three people standing in front of a new boat. On the left is Lao Fang, holding a large wrench; on the right is Qiu Changhai, holding a chisel; and in the middle is Master Chen, wearing glasses and twirling two walnuts.
On the back of the photo, Qiu Changhai wrote in pencil: "A commemorative photo of the launch of a new ship at Binhai Shipyard in 1965. The person in the middle is Master Chen, and he is the one who sewed the seams on the bottom of the new ship behind him."
This photo used to be under the glass of the worktable. A few days ago, he asked Ah Guang to take a picture of it and print two more copies, one for archiving and one to be attached to the application materials.
The edges of the photo are yellowed and curled, but the people in it are still clearly visible.
Old Fang looked through the genealogy chart, stubbed out his cigarette, and said that Old Qiu's craft had been passed down to the fifth generation, and there would be a sixth and seventh generation in the future. Reaching this point, he could say that he had done justice to Master Chen's chisel.
Over at the asbestos tile shed, Qiu Changhai was sitting at the doorway sharpening his chisel. The sandpaper scraped against the blade, producing a fine, even sound.
He held the chisel up to the light shining from the shed to examine the cutting edge, and then continued sharpening.
In a few days, once the Frost's Descent arrives, the expert team will come.