To Make the Best Iron Wok in China Post-90s graduate from Lichuan to revitalize traditional craftsmanship of iron forging

By Li Yanrui & Liu Chang

“When Spring Festival is drawing near, the orders for iron woks are flooding into Iron Boy Commune at Datian Village in Nanping Town, Lichuan City of Hubei Province. “I’ve been busy with the order forms and haven’t slept for three days,” Tian said.

On January 16, 2018, 26-yearold Tian Huan, President of Iron Boy Commune, seemed a bit tired yet excited. He said, “There are still 200 WeChat friends waiting to be approved because the Iron Boy Commune group on WeChat is full (maximum 5000 members).They are all our clients.”

Magic of a Hand-made Wok

Sizzle. Several fish from Qingjiang River were placed into the 28 cm pan made by Iron Boy Commune.Without any oil and just several slices of ginger, savory, fried golden fish were ready in just a few minutes.

In order to test its magic power,Mr. Tian used another brand’s non-stick iron pan to fry fish using the same materials. The result was that the fish stuck to the bottom.

“Let me explain why the fish wasn’t as sticky in our wok. The 1.25 kg wok is made of 1.5 kg of fine iron. It took a whole day to make it, and we strictly followed the traditional method of making an ‘open wok’ by putting soy bean and fat in it.” Mr. Tian pointed to the dense hive-shaped hammer print and explained that there were over ten procedures needed to make a wok, ranging from iron selecting to iron sampling, fire making, hammering, forming,and finally chilling. It had to be hammered more than 20,000 times, and every procedure had to be completed carefully.

“3天沒有睡覺了，一直在填回單。”春節將至，利川市南坪鄉大田村“鐵娃公社”訂單如雪片般飛來。

2018年 1月16日，26歲的“鐵娃公社”社長田歡，雖然略顯疲憊但露著興奮：“還有200多個微信好友沒來得及加，‘鐵娃公社’5000人的微信群上限已經滿額了，都是訂貨的顧客。”

一錘錘打出來 就是不一樣

“滋滋滋……”幾條清江河里打撈出的洋魚，放進“鐵娃公社”出品的一口28cm的煎鍋里，丟進幾枚姜片，不加一滴油，不一會兒就煎得兩面金黃，魚身完整，香味四溢。

比對試驗用的另一口不沾涂層品牌鐵鍋，按常規生姜片擦鍋，適量菜油滑鍋。洋魚進鍋，抖一下鍋，魚皮卻黏得鍋底到處都是。

“不粘那是有原因的。這口鍋有2斤半，用3斤精鐵打了一天。新鍋啟用，還按照傳統方法，用黃豆和肥肉‘開鍋’。” 指著上面密密麻麻的蜂巢樣錘子印，田歡說，每口鐵鍋，需要選鐵、取樣、開板、燒火、捶打、成型、淬火等十來道工序，捶打2萬多次，每個步驟都有講究。

“為了打出現在這樣一口好鍋，自己摸索大半年，拜訪多家國內制鍋廠商，和十好幾位老鐵匠反復實驗，經歷幾百次失敗，才得成功。和機器鍛壓、拋光的鐵鍋不同，我們的鐵鍋全靠一錘錘打出來，鍋底蜂窩狀的氣孔使得受熱更均勻，這就是不粘的秘密。”

“It took me more than half a year to find out how to make a good wok. I visited a number of domestic wok manufacturers, did tests with dozens of experienced blacksmiths, and failed several hundred times before the final product took shape. Different from the machine-made iron woks, our wok was forged blow by blow. The hive-shaped pores at the bottom of the wok make the heat exposure more even, which is the secret to its non-stickiness.”Mr. Tian said.

Mr. Tian gained a lot of knowledge from making his iron woks, and started his journey of exploration on anvil skills by employing hammer and fire techniques.

In early 2017, Mr. Tian, with a bachelor’s degree in art design began to visit the well-known museums in China and dwelled on the exquisite patterns of ancient utensils. He also frequently attended large-scale cultural expos and learned a lot. With the help of several leading masters of the field, he had created many new iron products, such as iron boilers, tripod pots, vases, and tea sets. These products were popular among higher-paying customers for their practical functions and aesthetic values.

One message from an overseas Chinese person left to the WeChat Mall of Iron Boy Commune read,“Your hand-made products embody a craftsman’s talents. My family likes them very much. So

從日常生活用品鐵鍋起步，田歡小有所獲。鐵錘、爐火間，田歡又開啟鐵砧上的創作之旅。

2017年新年伊始，大學學習設計專業的田歡游走全國知名博物館，觀摩古代器皿的精美造型；頻繁參加大型文創博覽會，汲取營養。在多位文創大師的幫助下，不斷推陳出新，生產出鐵釜、鼎罐、花器、茶具等鐵器，既能滿足功能性需求，又極具審美價值，受到高端消費者歡迎。

2017年10月，田歡在北京參加國際設計周，一口氣接到200多款鐵器訂單。中國手工藝人平臺“東家”創始人朱見山不僅購買鐵器，還聯絡臺北多位頂級設計大師給予指導。

“你們手工的東西很有匠人的溫度，我們全家都很喜歡，我要把它傳給下一代。”一位海外華人在鐵娃公社的微信商城留言。

一步步摸索 “小鐵匠”不一般

俗話說，“人生有三苦，打鐵、撐船、磨豆腐。”田歡的祖上三代都是打鐵匠。“家中老人從小就跟我說，要好好讀書，長大后，就不用再辛苦打鐵了。”

田歡畢業后在北京找了份工作。一個偶然機會，他看到一組精美實用的日本鐵鍋，標價數千元，感到非常震驚。“原來不起眼的鐵匠活，竟可以做出這樣的好東西。”

2016年，田歡辭掉北京工作，返回利川深山老林的老家。“我要發揚祖傳打鐵工藝，打出中國好鐵鍋。”

手工制造鐵鍋并不容易。“要一錘一錘敲出來，鍋的厚度、開口的大小都很難控制。”

花了大半年時間找到十多位老鐵匠，開出讓老鐵匠笑咧嘴的工資，“鐵娃公社”開張營業。可老鐵匠們隨意慣了，做出的鐵鍋開口誤差經常超出1.5厘米。田歡將這些不合格的鐵鍋敲碎重做。這令老鐵匠們很不開心，“這個小后生，怎么老是刁難我們呢？”

“為了和師傅們溝通，我學會了喝酒，每次去驗貨，都帶上一瓶白酒。一邊喝酒，一邊打鐵，交流漸漸變得順暢了起來。”說起這事，田歡憨憨一笑。

鍋打出來了，往哪兒賣呢？田歡和工人們背著鐵鍋，到集鎮上一家家商店推銷，卻差點被人趕出來。“什么年代了，還賣這種鍋？”

“娃，別折騰了，半年的工資我們不要了，你去找份正經的工作吧。”幾位老鐵匠把田歡叫到跟前，收拾行裝準備告別。

創業咋這么難！田歡哭了。土家漢子的倔強，讓他未輕言放棄。背著鐵鍋，到處參加展會。為了賣鍋，他注冊微博，添加了100多個微信群，主動聯系自媒體平臺，每天更新自己的鐵器鐵藝。

在互聯網這個平臺上，他的鐵器遇到知音。

“鐵娃公社”慢慢火了，產品不僅賣進大城市，還收到來自日本、I want to pass them down to my next generation.”

An Adventurous “Young Blacksmith”

As an old saying goes, the three hardest jobs in life are forging iron, poling a boat, and grinding tofu. Tianan’s family have been blacksmiths for three generations.“When I was a kid, my grandpa always told me to study hard and not become a blacksmith in the future, for it is a toilsome job.”

After graduating from college,Mr. Tian found a job in Beijing.By chance, he saw a set of exquisite and practical Japanesemade iron woks in a shop one day. It was sold at the price of several thousand yuan. Tian was astonished that a blacksmith could make such beautiful work.

So, Mr. Tian quit his job in 2016 and returned to his remote mountain village in Lichuan. “I want to revitalize traditional iron forging craftsmanship and make the best wok in China.”

It’s not an easy job to make a wok by hand. “It’s made blow by blow, and it’s difficult to control the thickness and size of the wok opening.”

Mr. Tian spent almost half a year learning from dozens of experienced local blacksmiths and offered them handsome salaries to work in his newly established Iron Boy Commune. However,these blacksmiths were so casual in their work that the deviation of wok openings was sometimes more than 1.5 cm. Mr. Tian was not satisfied with this and smashed all the unqualified woks and made the blacksmiths make them again. The blacksmiths complained, “Why is this young man making such a big fuss about it?”

“For the benefit of communicating with the blacksmiths, I learned to drink alcohol. Every time when I examined products, I would take a bottle of baijiu. It is much easier to communicate with them while drinking,” Mr. Tian said, giggling.

When their woks were produced,what they were worried about was the market. Mr. Tian and his fellows had to promote their woks at every shop in the local town, but they were refused and even driven out by some of the shop owners. They sneered, “Who would buy such old-fashioned woks nowadays?”

“Son, don’t waste your time.We don’t want the salary for the past half year. Go and find a decent job,” Tian was told. Several blacksmiths already prepared to leave.

“Why is it so hard to start your own business?” Mr. Tian cried. But as a Tujia man, Tian was stubborn and never gave up easily. He carried woks to attend expos everywhere. To promote his woks, he registered at Weibo, added over 100 WeChat groups, and contacted We-Media platforms to promote iron products.

His ironwork was finally recognized on the internet.

Iron Boy Commune gradually gain popularity on the internet.The products were not only sold in big cities in China, but also to Japan, South Korea, and Australia. Mr. Tian even got orders from the China Embassy in Mongolia. They’ve already presold 10,000 woks for 2018. “What we lack most now is blacksmiths.We count on our blacksmiths to complete these orders. It will be a busy year.”

More Hands Make Light Wok

During his interview, some villagers came in to ask, “Iron Boy, this year we’re not going to find jobs in other cities. Can we learn this trade from you?Besides, the salary with you is more than 10,000 yuan a month,far better than we could earn elsewhere.”

The requests kept pouring in. “We’re graduates from universities in Wuhan, majoring in design. Can you accept us as apprentices?” asked some. “We’re blacksmiths from Enshi. We want to join Iron Boy Commune. Can you help us sell our products?” If you scrolled over Mr. Tian’s notes on WeChat, you would find loads of messages like this.

Mr. Tian was delighted to read these messages. “I worked very hard this year and only made over 1,000 woks. The sales revenue was less than 2 million yuan. It’s a huge market. If more people join in, we will be able to improve our techniques and expand our market, which will also help pave a new way for neighboring villagers to shake off poverty. Why not accept them?”

“A new market entity like Iron Boy Commune brings new concepts, new techniques, and new ideas, and it injects vitality into the rural development of our city,” said Mr. Sha Yushan,Secretary of CPC Lichuan Municipal Committee. The municipal government plans to build more featured towns by combining folk craftsmanship with tourism so as to provide a platform for young entrepreneurs like Tian Huan to make their dreams come true.◆

(Translation: Li Li)韓國、澳大利亞的訂單。中國駐蒙古大使館，也慕名訂制。2018年訂單，已突破萬口。“現在就是差打鐵師傅，這些訂單，只指望現在這些師傅，怎么忙也忙不過來。”

獨行疾 眾行遠“小鐵娃”有大夢想

“鐵娃，今年我們就不出門打工了，跟你學著打鐵行不？”記者采訪中，正好幾位鄉鄰找上門來。“他這里每個月開一萬多元的工錢哦，那可比我們在外邊打工強多了。”

“我們是武漢高校設計專業的畢業生，能不能收我們做學徒？”“我們是恩施市的幾位老鐵匠，想加盟鐵娃公社，可否請你代銷產品？”翻看田歡的微信朋友圈，這樣的留言比比皆是。

對于這些請求，田歡來者不拒。“我去年累死累活，也只打了1000多口鍋，銷售收入不到200萬元。這個市場太大，如果一批志同道合的愛好者投身其間，共同創業，既能交流技藝，又能做大規模，還能幫助四鄰八鄉的鄉親找到一條脫貧道路，何樂而不為？”

“鐵娃公社這樣的新型市場主體帶來新理念、新技術和新思路，為鄉村發展注入活力。”利川市委書記沙玉山介紹，該市正結合旅游，籌建民間技藝特色小鎮，為像田歡這樣的返鄉青年提供實現夢想的舞臺。◆

鐵娃公社的產品Products made by Tian Huan’s Iron Boy Commune