“玩”火柴桿走進“吉尼斯”

普普通通的火柴伴隨著人們生活了幾百年，隨著社會的進步，如今火柴已漸漸被打火機所代替。但是誰也沒有想到，即將走進博物館的火柴，在遼寧省沈陽市方振生的手里，卻變成了形態各異、惟妙惟肖的工藝品，登上了大雅之堂。這些火柴工藝品不僅走進了尋常百姓家，他創作的“回歸亭”還被遼寧省博物館收藏，“鯉魚跳龍門”獲得“大世界吉尼斯”之最，并被其永久保存。

用火柴桿“插”裝出亭臺樓閣

現年58歲的方振生當過工人，做過設計人員，做過生意，也干過經貿公司的經理。但是，用火柴桿搞工藝品，那是一次偶然促成的。東北人有個習慣，每年春節時總要買一把新筷子，寓意一年新生活的開始。1994年妻子讓方振生去買筷子，方振生一看筷子不錯，當時也不知道是怎么想的，一下子就買了十把。妻子一看他買回了這么多筷子就生氣了，說：“這得用到什么時候?。俊狈秸裆攵紱]想就說：“我有用。我有用?！辈贿^他嘴上說有用，但是到底有什么用自己也不知道。此刻，突然在方振生的腦海里出現了民間關于筷子樓的傳說。那是在一些鄉村里，當有人結婚時，在宴席的餐桌上總要擺一個用筷子插裝起來的樓閣，稱為筷子樓。在宴席開始時，人們就撥動筷子樓中的筷子，當筷子樓散開了，宴席也就開始了。這個傳說起源于何時何地已無從考證，筷子樓怎么個搭法當然也沒有文字記載。

從這年的春節開始，方振生開始用筷子插裝各種圖形，慢慢地就摸出了許多門道，但是當他精心插裝的作品好不容易完成了，可是一碰就散了，他先后用了幾種辦法都固定不住。后來他看見一個小女孩玩橡皮泥，于是就試著把橡皮泥貼在筷子頭上，這回雖然固定了，但外形死板，沒有豐富色彩，而且無法移動。他把這件貼有橡皮泥的筷子作品拿在手里左看右看，突然他的眼睛一亮：“這頂端粘著一小塊橡皮泥的筷子，不就像一根火柴嗎？”他馬上想起了紅紅綠綠的火柴，何不用力學的原理把火柴插裝成樓閣呢？

于是方振生一連跑了好幾家商店，買來了一大堆“大頭大腦”的紅雙喜火柴。從此，這些火柴在方振生的手中就有了不同尋常的功能：他插裝出了正方體，接著又插裝出圓柱體、錐體，后來還插裝出了復雜的球體，然后，他又把這些部件組成了各種圖案。方振生著魔了，滿桌子滿床都是火柴。

賣了自家樓房“玩”火柴

那時，方振生經營著一個在沈陽市鐵西區很有名的影樓，而且生意紅火。他為了能把全部的精力都投入到火柴插裝藝術中去，紅火的生意不管了，他把時間全都用在學美術、學建筑上。他去圖書館查閱資料，去買有關的書籍，他要讓火柴工藝品登上藝術的大雅之堂。

經過了三年的摸索，他摸索出火柴桿和頭力的相互制約、相互作用的規律：比如插裝由250根火柴桿制作的正方體，不用一滴膠水，只施以一定力的作用竟摔而不散、壓而不折，令人稱奇！后來，為了提高插裝工藝效率，實現制作工藝的標準化、批量化，他還研制出“插裝胎板”，獲得國家的專利。從此，火柴在方振生的手里成了各種人們喜歡的茶壺、房子、花橋、寶塔以及花燈等等，它們個個形神兼備，生動可愛。

1997年初，方振生來到了沈陽科技館情報所了解到，世界上有用竹、藤條、柳枝等作材料插裝的工藝品，但是還沒有人用火柴插裝工藝品。于是，他的火柴工藝品申請了國家的專利，他也就成了用火柴插裝工藝品的世界第一人，火柴工藝品也成了世界一絕。

但是方振生很快發現，用有磷火柴插裝的工藝品太危險，稍有摩擦就會起火，后來他研制出了不能燃燒的無磷工藝火柴，不過這種火柴買不到，只能訂做。當他興沖沖地到本溪火柴廠說要訂做幾百萬根無磷火柴時，人家笑了：那得專為你生產呢！而且你覺得數很大，可機器轉起來也就一會的功夫，不合算呀！方振生不死心，就一次又一次地到火柴廠要求，最后他終于用自己的誠心打動了那位廠長。但訂貨得一大筆錢，這幾年，他不做生意，坐吃山空，手里已經沒有多少現金可以支配了！他想到了自己的住房，他妻子和兒女一聽這話，都認為他瘋了，走火入魔了！開始時家里人是勸，后來是妻子的哭鬧。但是不管別人怎么做，都不能改變方振生的主意。最后，方振生將房子賣了5萬元錢，買來了大批的無磷火柴。租的房子里火柴堆積如山，為了進行專業化制作，方振生成立了沈陽三魚火柴工藝品研究所，向他學插裝火柴工藝品的人，最多時達100余人。

“回歸亭”被遼寧省博物館收藏

1997年香港回歸祖國之時，一個念頭在方振生的腦海閃過：香港回歸是個重大主題，何不搞一個火柴插裝藝術品？于是他開始翻閱有關香港的資料，最后他設計出一個“回歸亭”圖案。為了使插裝的香港區徽更像，方振生特意去了那家生產香港區徽的工廠訂做了一個。

插裝開始了，方振生和家里人以及幾個學生一齊上陣。那幾個月里方振生每天只睡幾個小時的覺，最后幾天他實在頂不住了，就對家里人說，我先睡一會，如果有問題一定要叫醒我。終于在距離回歸還有三天時，“回歸亭”完成了！方振生和女兒一起把它送到了市里參加展出，當方振生看到參觀的人們看著“回歸亭”，眼睛里射出了興奮的目光，他頓時感到了滿足。

這個“回歸亭”一共用了112000根火柴，在“回歸亭”的中央一長方體上，寫有“百年夢歸”字樣。在其上方，伸出的紅、綠兩只手將香港區徽高高托起，表現了鄧小平同志提出的一國兩制的創造性構想，象征著香港將繼續保持繁榮穩定。亭中的“平衡雕”周圍共設計了32根柱子，代表了我國31個行政區，其中一根綠色柱子喻指臺灣正在回歸的過程中?！盎貧w亭”九盞紅燈籠高高掛起，除含有“九九歸一”之意外，也表達了大陸和香港人民的喜悅心情。如今，這個高900厘米、寬550厘米構思精巧、插裝獨特的“回歸亭”已被遼寧省博物館收藏，這也是該館破例收藏的首件現代作品。

“鯉魚跳龍門”走進“吉尼斯”

“回歸亭”插裝成功，完善了方振生的插裝技術，也激發了他的創作欲望。這時，他想起了千百年來一直在民間廣泛流傳的“鯉魚跳龍門”故事。他要用火柴表現這個故事。在半年多的時間里，方振生自己也記不清畫了多少張設計圖了，然后他組織了一個30多人的“工作隊”開始了插裝。半年來，他裝了又拆、拆了又裝，歷時近半年的時間，他用1219557根火柴，終于將鯉魚跳龍門插裝成功。

鯉魚跳龍門的整部作品體積為8米×6.5米×2.2米，龍門是以天數和地數組成的3門4柱。三個門上有9個云朵，4根柱的下面設有8個地角浪花，龍門前方有一對華表，華表兩側有2頭雄獅守護。鯉魚由浪花柱托起，以一年四季12月排列，共12尾，上面四周懸掛紅燈籠12盞，下面有24個立柱用紅綢相連，寓意為一年二十四節氣，就像紅燈籠一樣紅紅火火。特別是那蛟龍細微之處的龍眼、龍齒、龍眉、龍舌、龍須、龍爪、龍鱗等，色澤鮮明，形象逼真。在彩燈輝映下，它仿佛正在騰空而起，駕云飛去。

春節還沒過完，沈陽的幾家商場就同時來信要方振生去展出，最后，方振生選擇了沈陽商業城。當“鯉魚跳龍門”大型火柴桿插裝燈飾展出后，一個月里參觀的人排著隊和“鯉魚跳龍門”合影，人們爭相購買各種火柴工藝品請方振生簽名留念。那些天，方振生報上有名、電視上有影，成了名人。后來，“鯉魚跳龍門”到大連等地展出時，同樣引起了轟動，最后還獲得了“大世界吉尼斯之最”的稱號，它現在正在“大世界吉尼斯”總部主辦的“吉尼斯精品展”的“奇妙館”中展覽。

Wonders Made of Matches

By Lu Weiping

The 58-year-old Fang Zhensheng is now famed for his matchstick craft. Based in Shenyang， capital city of northeast China’s Liaoning Province， Fang was a worker， designer and manager of a company before he dedicated his life to the unique art of making handicraft articles with matchsticks in 1994.

The beginning of the marvelous art was nothing like “Het there be light and there was light.?Following the popular local custom of buying a new bundle of chopsticks for the Chinese New Year， Fang was asked one day by his wife to buy chopsticks. In the shop， he was fascinated by the design of the chopsticks and bought ten bundles on the spur of the moment. He explained to his irritated wife that he had bought the chopsticks for a practical purpose， hoping that the explanation would make peace with his wife. But he did not go on to explain what the purpose was， for he himself did not know what the hack it would be. Then he hit upon an idea. In northeast China， rural people will build a miniature house with chopsticks on a table before a wedding banquet. It is not until guests pull out chopsticks from the chopstick house that the banquet can begin.

After the Spring Festival， Fang began to use the chopsticks to build miniature houses. He figured out ways to build them upright， but they fell apart and collapsed easily. He invented several methods to make them stand steadily， but none of them. Inspired one day by the modeling clay a little girl was playing with， he added a bit of modeling clay to the head of each chopstick. This solved the problem of collapse， but the house did not look nice. While examining the structure， Fang suddenly hit upon an inspiration: the chopsticks looked like large-sized matchsticks. So why not use matchsticks to build things? He rushed to shops and bought a big heap of Double-Happiness brand matches. Pretty soon， Fang built solid cubes， triangles and even complicated balls with matchsticks.

Then Fang was totally fascinated by the art he had invented. Leaving his photograph studio business to others， he devoted himself to the studies of architecture and aesthetics， and came up with various ingenious ways of putting matchsticks together without using any adhesive or anything else. After three years of trials and errors， the matchstick handicraft matured. He was able to use 250 matchsticks to make a solid cube without using any glue and the cube is so surprising strong and solid that you just can’t break it by dropping it on the ground or pressing it with force. Then he used matchsticks to make teapots， miniature houses， sedan chairs， pagodas and lanterns. They look fabulous.

In 1997， Fang applied for a patent for his matchstick craft. According to the provincial patent office， he was the first one in the world who made handicrafts out of matchsticks. In order to avoid any danger of fire， Fang invented a type of noncombustible non-phosphoric matches and wanted a manufacturer in a nearby city to produce the non-phosphoric matches， but the manufacturer turned him down several times with the excuse that it was not profitable to produce such matches. Fang sold his house for 50，000 yuan against the furious protest of his wife and daughter and placed a large order at the manufacturer. This way， he acquired several millions of matchsticks that would not catch fire. Then he founded a matchstick craft institute in Shenyang to produce matchstick articles and promote the art.

No longer satisfied with ordinary creations， Fang wanted to make something nice and big that would make people wow at the wonder of the matchstick art. Before the return of Hong Kong to the sovereignty of China in 1997， Fang hit upon the idea of making a big souvenir to mark the important event. After thorough researches， he designed a “comeback pavilion? For several months， Fang and his family and several disciples worked day and night to put matchsticks together. During that time， Fang slept only a few hours a day. Three days before the big red-letter event， the 9-meter-high 5.5-meter-wide pavilion was completed with 112，000 match sticks. When he and his daughter arrived with the pavilion for display in downtown Shenyang， everyone present wowed. Today， the pavilion is in the art collection of the Liaoning Provincial Museum. It is the only modern art piece in the collection of the museum while the rest are all antique treasures.

The sensational success of his first super-size artwork inspired Fang to create more. The next big thing he designed to do was a matchstick version of the traditional folk legend of “the carp jumping into the Dragon Gate and becoming a dragon? It took him more than six months to finalize the design. Then he organized a team of 30-strong people to put all the 1，219，557 matchsticks together. After a few rounds of failures and dismantling， the giant patchwork finally materialized. The 8 X 6.5 X 2.2m masterpiece presents three gates with four door posts， nine clouds above the three gates， eight waves at the foot of the four posts， two ornamental columns in front of the gates， two guardian lions， twelve carps， twelve lanterns around the gates， and a giant dragon with all the vivid details well depicted.

When on display in the largest shopping mall in downtown Shenyang， the matchstick marvel attracted a large number of visitors. For a whole month， people flocked in and lined up to take photos in front of the masterpiece and buy small-sized matchstick souvenirs. Fang Zhensheng was busy autographing for fans. He was lionized in the local media. The masterpiece caused a similar stir when it was exhibited in Dalian and many other cities. Now， Shanghai-based Big World Guinness Records has put it into its records and it is on display at a gallery at the head office of the Big-World Guinness Records.

(Translated by David)