I have finished the interview with Mr. Cheung Shun-King (Mahjong tile artisan) in his store Biu Kee Mahjong (標記蔴雀) on 21 July at 4p.m.
Here are some quotes and screen shot for the interview video.
" I have been in the industry for more than half a century"
"But there are very few of us left now"
"I hope it will survive, but there is not much I can do if the industry is in decline like other traditional craft"
Before the interview day, I have done some research about mahjong interview video for the reference such as the middle angle of character's expression and close-up shot for the handicraft.
Interview draft:
How long have you been carving mahjong tiles?
My gardfather opened the shop then passed it to my father and then passed it on to me. So,I've been doing this for more than 50 yearsbut years ago my shop started to sell mostly machine-carved tiles in the past, I'd startto carve a set whenever I have free time. Now I mostly get requests from people who have lost a tiles, but I would still make a full set if someone liked.
There are many mahjong parlors in the neighborhood , does this help your business?
Reference :How long have you been carving mahjong tiles?
My gardfather opened the shop then passed it to my father and then passed it on to me. So,I've been doing this for more than 50 yearsbut years ago my shop started to sell mostly machine-carved tiles in the past, I'd startto carve a set whenever I have free time. Now I mostly get requests from people who have lost a tiles, but I would still make a full set if someone liked.
What's the difference between hand made mahjong
sets and the machine-made ones?
The obvious difference is the price between these
two type of mahjong. Firstly, the hand carved mahjong sets cost at least a few
thousand dollars each, then, the machines-made produced ones can be as cheap as
a few hundred, it is cheaper when it's made in a factory in Mainland China.
Besides, the appearance is also different. For example, tiles molded by a
machine would have deeper marks while hand-carved pieces would be lighter.
There are many mahjong parlors in the neighborhood , does this help your business?
Not at all! A few year ago, most of the parlors
switched to using automatic mahjong tables which can shuffle and stack the
tiles automatically. The mahjong set comes with the table so hop like mine can
hardly make any profit.This is probably the last generation of tile-makers.
No comments:
Post a Comment