At the end of the 19th century, the "three knives" spread among the people in Fenghua, namely tailor, kitchen worker and barber. At that time, many people in Fenghua were trying to make a living and left their hometowns to find a way to survive. Most people make a living by tailoring in the Jiangkou, Wangxupu, Qianjiang and Nandu areas on both sides of the Yanjiang and Jinxi Rivers in Fenghua. They travel in small groups, or live alone, packing a pair of scissors, a market ruler, an iron and sewing dough, and go through hardships to travel abroad. Most of them go to coastal cities such as Ningbo, Shanghai, Nanjing, Qingdao, Tianjin, Harbin, and some even turned to North Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia to cut and sew clothes for others.
After the Opium War, foreign powers attempted to carve up China and signed a series of unequal treaties with the Qing government. As a result, many embassies, consulates, concessions, commercial ports, offices, foreign banks and other overseas institutions or groups It also arises in response to the times, and naturally involves the clothing issues of these foreigners. As a result, some tailors in their own gang who were smart enough to go out to make a living stopped making the original robes, mandarin jackets, and cardigans and started making suits. And the business was good, and he gradually became prosperous. At that time, all the fashionable tailors who made suits for foreigners (commonly known as red-haired people) were the red gang tailors.
Jiang Liangtong from Qianjiang Village in Jiangkou and Wang Ruimo from Wangxupu Village successively traveled east to Fusang to train as tailors and mastered the skills of making suits. After 1896, they successively opened "Hechang Hao" in Shanghai. " and "Wang Xingchang" suit shop, which was the earliest suit shop opened by Fenghua tailors in China. They passed on their children and apprentices, and gradually formed a loose "Red Gang Tailors" group. The specialty of Fenghua tailors is that they pay great attention to meticulous workmanship in terms of production quality, and have a set of cutting and sewing skills that vary from person to person, which is highly appreciated by people at the time. In 1904, Wang Ruimo spent three days and nights using manual flying needles to sew a suit for Xu Xilin, the famous bourgeois revolutionary in my country, which became a pioneering work in my country's clothing industry; in 1916, Sun Yat-sen came to "Rongchangxiang" founded by Wang Caiyun. "The suit shop requested that the non-commissioned officer's uniform be used as the basis, and be transformed into a new style of clothing with straight lapels, four patch pockets, and five buttons. Wang Caiyun cut and made it. It was completed in less than three days. Mr. Sun was very satisfied and was known as It is called the "Mao suit" and is known as the "national costume". "Hongbang Tailors" became famous for their exquisite craftsmanship and became famous all over the world. They not only created three firsts in the history of Chinese clothing, but also created a large number of outstanding talents in suit production. In order to expand its business, the "Hong Gang Tailors" continued to recruit fellow villagers from Fenghua Township and surrounding villages as apprentices. At its peak, the "Rongchangxiang Woolen Suit Company" had more than 100 employees. There are eight suit shops on Nanjing Road ***, seven of which are opened by Fenghua people. There are more than 100 suit shops of Fenghua people in Shanghai. Most of the suit shops opened by "Hongbang Tailor" have front shops and workshops, integrating industry and trade. They mainly sell suits, and also sell shirts, ties and various shoes and hats, forming a clothing series. This is the characteristic of "Hongbang Tailor". .
Mr. Wang Caiyun was born in poverty and was known to be anti-imperialist and patriotic. He actively participated in the "May 4th" movement and led the "May 30th" business strike. The May 30th Massacre in 1925 occurred near the "Rongchangxiang" store. Mr. Wang Caiyun witnessed the bloody massacre of Chinese workers and students by imperialists and vowed to boycott foreign goods and refuse to do business with foreigners. At that time, the woolen fabrics used to make suits were all imported, and most suits had to deal with foreigners. In order to fulfill his promise not to sell or buy foreign goods, Mr. Wang Caiyun resolutely abandoned business and returned home, handing over "Rongchangxiang" to his proud wife. It is run by Wang Hongqing, a disciple and nephew-in-law. He also gave the funds that he had painstakingly organized over the years to the students who had followed him for many years in the form of dividends.
His disciples got this generous investment and started their own business and opened suit shops one after another.
Fenghua people who have left "Rongchangxiang" to open factories and stores include:
Brothers Wang Caixing and Wang Hexing opened Wang Xingchang Woolen Suit Store at No. 807 Nanjing Road.
Wang Laifu opened Wang Rongkang Woolen Suit Store at No. 815 Nanjing Road.
Wang Fuqing opened Wang Shuntai Woolen Suit Store at No. 791 Nanjing Road.
Wang Lianfang opened Yuchangxiang Woolen Suit Store at No. 781 Nanjing Road.
Wang Shidong and Zhou Yongsheng jointly opened Huili Woolen Suit Store at No. 775 Nanjing Road.
Brothers Wang Zhengfu and Wang Jiefu opened Qia Changxiang Suit Store at No. 346, Guangxi North Road.
Wang Jitao opened the HSBC Western Service Account at No. 429, Jing'an Temple Road (now Nanjing West Road).
Sun Yongliang opened Shuntaixiang Suit Store on Guizhou Road.
Wang Zengbiao opened Kailin suit store.
Wang Fenglai opened Wang Rongkang suit store on Chongqing Road.
Wang Yangqing opened Zhonghua Leather Shoes Co., Ltd. at the east end of Nanjing Road and Henan Road.
Zhou Yuzi opened the Huadong leather shoe store at No. 777 Nanjing Road.
As a result, from the 1930s to the 1940s, the booming suit industry on Nanjing Road was almost monopolized by Wang Caiyun's relatives and disciples. For a time, Nanjing Road in Shanghai became a street for the western clothing industry in Fenghua. Most of these enterprises have become famous brand stores in Shanghai, which have had a huge impact on the prosperity of Nanjing Road and the development of China's suit industry. At this point, the "Red Gang Tailor" has been fully formed.
Since Wang Hongqing took over, "Rongchangxiang" has carefully improved its operation and management, and developed group production business, such as undertaking railway employee uniforms, aviation military academy uniforms, developing military uniforms, raincoats and other businesses, and expanding woolen wholesale. This made "Rongchangxiang" even more prosperous. At its peak, its assets reached 500,000 yuan, and it was still the top of Shanghai's suit industry despite the competition among many brothers.
After the "Hong Bang Tailors" became famous in Shanghai, with the prosperity of Shanghai's suit industry and the saturation of shops and technicians, the "Hong Bang Tailors" began to expand their living space. Some of them went north to the three northeastern provinces, They went south to Xiamen and Taiwan, and some went west to Wuhan in the Central Plains; some even went abroad and traveled across the oceans to establish businesses and display their talents in North America, Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia and other places. Their footprints are all over Beijing, Nanjing, Chongqing, and Qingdao. , Dalian, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Vladivostok and other places. At present, there are still many second and third generation students of "Rong Changxiang" in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and abroad. For example, the "Yichang Company" established by Chen Cairong in Hong Kong, the woolen clothing company established by Wang Dinghai, etc. are all quite influential. Thus, the clothing culture of the motherland has been deeply integrated into the Western world.
"Hongbang Tailor" has made many achievements in various places in his career. When his career is successful, he never forgets to benefit his hometown. They are patriotic and love their hometown, eager for public welfare, subsidizing public welfare, setting up charities, and benefiting their hometown. Such as Wang Caiyun of Wangxupu Village and Jiang Fuchen of Qianjiang Village. Wang Caiyun is known as a "model businessman" in Shanghai. He is a patriotic representative of the "Red Gang Tailor". He was the first to initiate the establishment of the Business Federation in the concession and served as the first president. He actively supported the "May Fourth" movement, fought to safeguard the legal status and rights of the Chinese in the concession, took the lead in boycotting foreign goods and promoting domestic products, and was an advocate of the industrial national salvation movement. He was fond of charity and spent huge sums of money to establish various public welfare undertakings in his hometown of Wangxupu, such as investing in the construction of the largest water conservancy facility in the township - Grandma Shiqi, dredging the Xupu River, building the "Shoutong Bridge", and helping 100 acres of land to be used as Xupu school farmland. , providing free education for poor children, and also funded the construction of the "Fenghua Orphanage" and so on. Jiang Fuchen is the son of Jiang Liangtong. After he became prosperous in Shanghai, he helped build 123 acres of farmland and 16,000 yuan in his hometown to build the famous "Jinsha Academy"; he also built bridges and roads, donated money to the Ping'an Society, etc., and passed down the name to eight neighboring surnames. Good story.
The first and second generation "Red Gang Tailors" used a pair of scissors to cut out the colorful life world of Fenghua people and pioneered China's national costume culture. They are the pride of the Chinese clothing industry. The first and second generation Hong Bang tailors have set a monument for the Chinese garment industry. After liberation, the third and fourth generations of Red Gang heirs inherited the essence of the Red Gang and became better than the Red Gang.
Yu Yuanfang, the third generation descendant of the Red Gang, is a native of Baidu, Fenghua. Before liberation, he studied under Wang Caiyun of Shanghai. He has practiced the three unique skills of "Red Gang tailoring" since he was a child: "visual measurement of clothes" and "sewing and patching". "Adjustment" and "special correction". At the beginning of the liberation, he opened the "Bowei Suit Store" in Shanghai and made the first suit of New China for Chen Yi, the first mayor of Shanghai. Later, on the recommendation of Mayor Chen Yi, the State Council transferred Yu Yuanfang and his "Bowei" to Beijing. , changed its name to "Hongdu Garment Company", and has successively made clothing for many foreign heads of state, consulate personnel in China and many party and state leaders in the Republic of China. It is known as the "National Master of Clothing" and "National Master of Suits".
Many foreign guests praised the suits he made as better than those made in Oxford, England. The suits he made for Cambodian head of state Sihanouk and his wife, the prince, "visually measured" the suits and they fit perfectly. The prince exclaimed that Yu Yuanfang was "the best costume master he had ever seen" and specially put an engraved silver box in it. It was given to Yu Yuanfang as a souvenir and became a good story. As the representative and leader of the "Red Gang" in New China, Yu Yuanfang has made outstanding contributions to the hard work of the motherland's clothing culture. Over the past few decades, he has brought out batches of highly skilled apprentices who, through re-transmission, have integrated the "Hongbang" skills into the sea of ??Chinese clothing culture, making the Hongbang clothing culture flourish. The third generation of Hongbang descendants has set up a second monument for China's clothing industry.
Chen Zhikang, a native of Yulin Village, succeeded Yu Yuanfang as the manager of Beijing Hongdu Clothing Store. He led the "Hongdu" masters to customize suits for central leaders, foreign dignitaries and envoys stationed abroad. He himself was highly skilled in craftsmanship. When Chairman Mao Zedong passed away on September 9, 1976, the National Guard Bureau asked the "Red Capital" to rush to make a Mao suit for the Chairman to wear for the last time. He immediately led the costumers to study. Since he no longer had the energy to make the clothes, he had to find old clothes for reference and make them by visual inspection. Today, the silver-gray Mao suit worn by Chairman Mao while lying in the memorial hall is the masterpiece of Chen Zhikang and others. After Li Peng became Premier of the State Council, Chen Zhikang basically took care of his clothes. The family of Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia also approached Chen Zhikang to make clothes and established a certain relationship with him. It was Queen Monique's birthday, and Siknook specially called to invite Chen Zhikang to attend the birthday party.
Exquisite traditional craftsmanship makes "Red Gang" increasingly radiant. After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the youth of the garment industry flourished in the hometown of the "Red Gang". Relying on its historical origins and the technical advantages of Fenghua tailors, Fenghua City has successively established many large-scale enterprises in suits, fashions, woolen sweaters, knitting, shirts, cashmere clothing, fur clothing, etc. There are currently more than 200 clothing enterprises in the city. People engaged in the garment industry account for one-quarter of the city's employed population, and the garment output value accounts for one-quarter of the city's industrial output value.
The new generation of Hongbang descendants not only adhere to tradition, but also boldly innovate, combining the traditional craftsmanship of Hongbang with modern technology, blending Eastern culture and Western culture, making the hometown of the "Hongbang" increasingly show its Strong vitality. In 1991, Luo Meng's suits dominated the suit industry with "exquisite materials, chic styles, clear lines, graceful shapes, unique styles, and zero failure rate." The former French president saw that the clothes worn by Chinese officials and staff of the Great Hall of the People were novel in style, pleasant in color, and world-class in texture and workmanship. He mistakenly thought that these clothes were imported from abroad. When he learned that these clothes were all imported from Fenghua Produced by a clothing factory, President Mitterrand was immediately full of praise and said, "This is true oriental art, true oriental art."
With the deepening of reform and opening up, Fenghua's clothing companies continue to move towards high standards, high quality, and high grades. Especially in recent years, clothing companies such as Luo Meng and Ai Yimei have successively introduced world-class advanced products. Equipment and complete sets of intelligent production lines, and innovative processes. In 2000, Romon successfully developed the "green and environmentally friendly non-adhesive lining suit", which was recommended as a "high-quality scientific and technological product" by the French Science and Technology Quality Supervision and Evaluation Committee and was listed as a " EU Market Sales Catalog" opens the door to the EU market. At present, a higher-level group-based, serialized, diversified, information-based, brand-name, personalized and international pattern is taking shape in Fenghua. Fenghua Garment occupies an important position in the national clothing industry. It already owns a first-class large-scale group company, a "China Famous Trademark" enterprise, and an enterprise with the title of "Chinese Famous Brand". Among them, Luo Meng Group is "China's largest business enterprise". "China's highest profit and tax enterprise" and "China's largest export-earning foreign exchange enterprise". The comprehensive national market share of the Romon brand ranks second among famous brand enterprises in China's clothing industry. Moreover, Romon has entered the European and American markets with its own brand, pioneering the integration of national brands into the world's famous clothing brands. This is the pride of Fenghua people.
Hongbang culture is no longer just the culture of Hongbang people, but has become the precious spiritual wealth of Fenghua people, and this spirit is constantly extending.
Among them, the successful performance of Sheng Junhai, Sheng Jingsheng, Fu Zhicun, etc., representatives of the fourth and fifth generations of Red Gang heirs, is the best explanation. Red gang culture has become a symbol of Chinese folk costume art. It is "real oriental art" and it is constantly sublimating.
As a clothing school, Hongbang is an industrial group. It has a long-term master-apprentice relationship and has indeed promoted the development of the national clothing industry. However, it has also expanded its living space with new forms of inheritance. Passed down from generation to generation for eternity. Hongbang uses her exquisite traditional skills to survive and develop, and creates tomorrow's leader with the innovative spirit of daring to be the first. With her rich national connotation and strong emotional intelligence, Hongbang is connected to the world, serves the public, repays society, and constantly recreates human civilization.
The flourishing of culture is called prosperity, and the remembrance of generations is called eternity. The Hongbang clothing culture that has flourished for a century will make Fenghua's clothing industry and even China's clothing industry last for a long time.