The Rise And Fall Story Of "Luanchengbu" In Hebei

Luancheng cloth refers to the cloth woven by Luancheng people with cotton. "Luancheng cloth, top, four zhang four, pure cotton." This is a popular phrase in the cloth market in North China more than 100 years ago, which shows how prosperous and famous the cotton business in Luancheng was at that time.

At present, there is no exact record of when Luancheng weaving technology was formed. According to the author's research for many years, Luancheng cloth market was very prosperous during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, and there were more than ten cloth shops that even had influence in the country. These shops have a history of more than 100 years. According to the "Investigation Report on the Textile Industry of Luancheng (November 1947)", the "Jinyuan" cloth shop opened by Shanxi merchants at that time has been operating in Luancheng for 200 years.

Luancheng has a tradition of sericulture and weaving since ancient times. Luancheng is located on the border of mountains and plains. Affected by natural environmental factors, cotton cloth in mountains is scarce. Before the opening of Zhengtai Railway, cotton cloth in Jinzhong, Northwest Shanxi, Suiyuan and other places was mainly supplied by Luancheng, Yuanshi, Huolu (today's Luquan District of Shijiazhuang City), Zhengding and other major cotton producing counties. In particular, Luancheng is the economic and trade center of cotton producing areas.

North China is a major cotton producing region, and cotton cloth is extremely scarce in mountainous areas. Shanxi merchants with business sense have long been eyeing this business. There is a saying in Luancheng that "rich weaving, poor flowers, no ability to spin cotton". Luancheng is the cotton sales center in North China, and cotton from nearby counties will be sold here. Therefore, the shrewd Shanxi businessmen preferred to open cotton shops and cloth shops in Luancheng to buy and sell native cloth, which stimulated the local economy and made the textile industry in Luancheng extremely prosperous. At that time, almost everyone in Luancheng knew how to spin and every household knew how to weave. In addition to the improvement of textile technology, Luancheng native cloth was far superior to other counties in the same industry in terms of style, softness, wear resistance and durability. It quickly occupied the market and took the lead for hundreds of years.

There are four grades of Luancheng earth cloth. Each piece of superior cloth must be one foot one inch five cents wide, four feet four feet long, and 2.5 jin heavy. An inch more or less is not a good cloth. There is also a complete set of trading rules for market arrangement transactions. Generally, there is a narrow penalty of 100 wen and a short penalty of 50 wen (money making). If the cloth is short or shoddy, the lighter will be fined, and the heavier will burn the cloth in the street. The fined money will be used to buy firecrackers, and then set off in the cloth market or along the street. While setting off firecrackers, someone will take a gong bowl and knock along the street and shout, "Who and who will trade plain cloth or short calico cloth?"

Luancheng native cloth can be divided into three categories and five sub categories, namely plain cloth (white cloth), purple cloth, twill cloth, pocket cloth, leggings cloth, iron machine cloth (modern cloth), dry machine cloth, and waterline cloth. Dry machine cloth and water line cloth are the pillar products of Luancheng cloth market. Waterline fabric has sparse texture and soft texture, which is suitable for lining; The dry machine cloth is fine, compact, white and durable, suitable for outer lining of outer coat.

Every time after the busy farming season in autumn and winter, young or old people will spin cotton into thread, and young and middle-aged people will start weaving. At the beginning, each household produced at home, but due to the shortage of staff and the black and yellow cloth produced by kerosene lamps, their transactions were often frustrated and the economy was damaged. Later, they took the village as a unit, dug several earth cellars and opened skylights in the village, and several or more households gathered together to weave cloth, so that they could compete with each other to promote production. Moreover, the cloth produced was smoked again with sulfur yellow, which was white, beautiful, moisture resistant and durable. The economic benefits rose straightly, and the textile work in one winter could often cover three years' income.

There is a local riddle in Luancheng. The face of the riddle is "1638", and the answer is "Collection of Luancheng" written by Su Zhe, one of the eight masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties. Because every month on the first, sixth, third and eighth day of the lunar calendar is the rural market of Luancheng, which can also be said to be the distribution of markets in Luancheng. Every day on the first and sixth day is a big fair, and every day on the third and eighth days is a small fair. Cloth markets can also be big or small. In general, merchants from all over the country come to Luancheng to trade homespun in large markets, while in small markets, local cloth shops or large households trade homespun with surrounding counties.

Luancheng Cloth Market has been prosperous for hundreds of years, which is inseparable from the good order and simple folk customs. If someone loses cloth or money in a hurry when trading cloth in this market, the lost cloth or money will be recovered as soon as the next market asks. The good reputation and hot market atmosphere make Luancheng native cloth famous in China, and a large number of cloth merchants have poured into this small city to "seek gold". In the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a Shanxi merchant named Wu. People in Luancheng called him "Wu Dabu". Every autumn after harvest, he would send a large caravan of one or two hundred camels from Shanxi, carrying full silver dollars and employing escorts to Luancheng. After arriving in Luancheng, Wu Dabu stayed in the inn, deposited the cash in the local money shop and collected it when needed. He started collecting cloth on the spot. Until the end of the spring and the beginning of the summer of the next year, he left with a full load of goods, then went to other places to sell and earn a lot of money. In the autumn, he continued to bring caravans to Luancheng to collect cloth, and so on.

In 1947, the CPC Luancheng County Committee visited and investigated the textile industry in all villages of the county, and interviewed hundreds of people over 70 years old who were skilled in weaving. According to the memories of the old people, Luancheng cloth market has been very prosperous since they can remember. It probably reached its peak in the early years of the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty. The trading volume of each large market reached 20000 to 30000 Ding of first-class cloth, and the trading volume of small markets also ranged from 9000 to 15000 Ding. This situation remained until the end of the Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.

Later, in the early days of the Republic of China, Luancheng and other places were hit by disasters. Within three years, there was no harvest. Luancheng's distribution of markets also began to move from prosperity to depression. Larger cloth merchants began to transfer their business to Huolu, and gradually, the cloth market in Luancheng became worse year by year. Until the Zhengtai Railway was completed, the impact of the foreign cloth shop made the cloth market in Luancheng become depressed. In the 13th year of the Republic of China (1924), the warlords of Zhifeng and Fengfeng had a mixed fight, which completely disrupted the local economy. By the 24th year of the Republic of China (1935), there was only one "Yuhua Cloth Shop" in Luancheng, and the turnover of homespun cloth was less than 6000 ingots. After the Japanese invaders harassed Luancheng, they banned the local cloth trade, and the Luancheng cloth market has turned from prosperity to decline

(Source: Shijiazhuang Daily)