Return To 1977 Chapter 663: Xiaoshi

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The second thing is about the uncle of the Hong family.

Yuntai came to Beijing this time to attend his nephew's wedding, which inadvertently brought two benefits.

One is that he restored contact with his old classmate Smith, which not only gave several young relatives a window into the outside world. It also made them realize before most Chinese people that there might still be a way to study abroad in life.

Take the afternoon of the wedding banquet as an example. Mr. and Mrs. Smith stayed at the Hong family for a long time.

This old American man told the younger generation about the beautiful Western world and the lifestyle of developed countries with great interest. Not only do we strongly encourage everyone to find opportunities to go out and take a look. A series of very important information about studying abroad was also revealed.

It turns out that since January 14, 1981, the Republic of China has officially promulgated the "Interim Regulations on Self-Financed Study Abroad", and the road to study abroad has actually been opened.

The official governments of the United States and the Republic are currently communicating and preparing to hold the first "Test of English as a Foreign Language" exam in the Republic.

Smith then gave a detailed explanation. He expressed the English abbreviation of this test "TOEFL" as "TOEFL" in Chinese. It is said to be an English proficiency test provided for students from non-English speaking countries to apply to study in higher education institutions in Western countries such as the United States and Canada.

And he said in public that if anyone wants to study abroad, he can pass this exam. He is willing to provide them with a series of help within his ability, such as applying for schools, applying for visas, etc., and can even provide financial guarantees.

To be honest, Smith's words were mostly addressed to Zhaoqing, the son of Wanyan's family. He sincerely hopes that the children of his old classmates can go abroad and receive more advanced Western education.

It's a pity that the speaker means it, but the listener doesn't. Zhaoqing devoted his life to Xiaoqin, and all he cared about was his unborn child. How can you be so angry?

What was even more unexpected was the unintentional insertion. On the contrary, Shou Jingfang's son Shou Zheng's sensitive nerves were touched. On the spot, he immediately started asking if he could go to the United States to study medicine.

Even though he later learned from Smith that to study medicine, you must first obtain an undergraduate degree from the United States, and then take relevant professional exams. He was not disappointed at all, but felt high-spirited and energetic.

It can be seen that he attaches great importance to studying medicine, and he seems to have made up his mind and wants to give it a try.

But having said that, although this is a good thing, Shou Jingfang also showed a little worry because of it. I don’t know whether it’s because he doesn’t want his son to travel far away or because he’s worried about tuition fees...

In addition, Yuntai himself also did a lot of good things for Hong Yanwu.

Because Yuntai knew that Hong Yanwu cared about old things, and heard from his family that this nephew "made a fortune" from stamps. So during the days he lived in the Hong family, he was not completely idle. He went out for a few walks, and finally discovered that there was another Xiaoshi in the capital.

The so-called "Xiao Market" is a spontaneous market that mainly trades secondhand goods, and the trading hours are concentrated in the early morning. The market opens before dawn and closes at dawn, hence the name.

Some people also call it "ghost market". This is mainly due to the characteristic of night trading that "a sky lantern illuminates things but not people". As for the popular nickname "small market", it is a fallacy.

Speaking of the history of this kind of market, it has actually been around since the Ming Dynasty. According to old legend, there is a family of aristocratic family who thought it would be shameful to exchange movables for rice and firewood. This was caused by carrying old things to a remote place in the early morning.

But in fact, in Xiaoshi, although the items sold are mainly used goods, there are also new ones, fake ones, stolen goods, etc.

It is precisely because the source of the channel is unknown that there is "a lot of money to be made" (jargon, which means reselling makes a lot of money). Xiaoshi used to be one of the main purchasing channels for many antique shops before liberation.

In the old days, such markets were always located in remote places near Xuanwumen, Deshengmen, Chongwenmen and other city walls. Because Xuanwumen is located near Liulichang, most of them are antiques. Deshengmen has a lot of old furniture, while Chongwenmen has a lot of clothing items.

After the founding of the Republic, the new government organized the industrial and commercial, public security and other departments to vigorously rectify the market, established a market management office to strengthen management, banned unlicensed vendors, and investigated and punished speculative illegal activities. The size of the flea market is gradually shrinking. The second-hand goods business has also been gradually replaced by state-owned trust companies and public-private joint venture trust stores.

So by almost 1957, the "Xiaoshi" in the capital had completely disappeared and should have ceased to exist.

But it was precisely the advent of the "movement" that caused many cultural relics to be scattered. Ten years later, after the implementation of the refund policy, many people who did not know the goods had a lot of old things in their hands, and the number of people who were anxious to cash out increased rapidly.

In addition, after the reform and opening up, the management of private private transactions has gradually become looser. As a result, this kind of market has been revived due to the return of some original "employees".

It’s just that there are differences between the current “Xiaoshi” and the “Xiaoshi” in the past. Take Chongwenmen as an example. Because there is no city wall, the original Dongxiao City was moved to Hongqiao.

In addition, not all of the stalls are former professional vendors, many are new entrants. Either to test the waters and make a profit, or to sell the unused items at home.

As a result, unprofessional verbal price negotiations appeared, and the types of goods were reduced.

What is currently being sold is almost entirely semi-old antiques and second-hand goods, and no other miscellaneous items are included. Such as the "tiger work" and "handling goods" of daily necessities.

In this way, the past practices of using lights as a blindfold, using enchantments to blind people, and using "shills" to deceive people will no longer exist. On the contrary, the market level has been improved and the market has become much purer.

(Note: Tiger work and Mao Kaohuo both refer to washing old goods and passing them off as new. The difference lies in the degree. Mao Kao goods can still be used, while Tiger work "eats people" and is almost useless when bought back. For example, there used to be a fake roast duck sold in Xiaoshi. It was made from duck racks collected from roast duck restaurants and covered with oil and covered with clay. The weight and appearance were not fake at all. I was afraid that the buyer would immediately swallow them. This is a standard tiger. It's a job. Although the card word watch made by hand stitching is also more deceptive, it still has the timekeeping function, so it is a good thing.)

In this case, because Yuntai knew that he would not stay in Beijing for a long time, he was too lazy to choose slowly, so he gathered the goods and negotiated the price slowly. He adopted the "hit and run hammer" buying method, which is the most efficient way to grab goods.

Based on the principle of "choose more, shop frequently, spend less, buy high-quality goods, don't bargain, save time", you can shop from stall to stall and only give a "fixed price" to the goods you like. Once the seller refuses, he will turn around and leave without lingering.

This kind of buying method is completely contrary to other buyers who choose carefully and take their time. The trick is to rely on superhuman vision to see the gold in the sand and win with more. You can "sweep" all the stalls' valuable goods in the shortest possible time and never leave empty-handed.

And because he only uses his eyes to select things, he doesn’t touch them with his hands except for calligraphy and painting, and he doesn’t argue about the price. He has the recklessness of an amateur, so he is not afraid of surprising the other party. No one believes that he is really knowledgeable and has eyes.

This will only lead to two situations. One is that the seller can't stand it anymore and calls him out, so he just pays for it on the spot and buys it without any other problems. Second, it would not be a pity if I really missed it.

Anyway, there is another one besides this stall. And I couldn't stand it anymore. He came here almost every day. He "strengthened" the seller for a day, and when he came again, the price was the same. If the other party knows about his problem, he may sell it next time.

In short, Yuntai uses this method and returns with a good harvest almost every time. For about the same price as a bag of tea, you can buy authentic works, good calligraphy, ancient porcelain, and expensive gadgets.

Among the relatively rare calligraphy and paintings, there is a large hand scroll of "The Book of Songs? Deer Ming Zhi Shi" painted by Ma Hezhi of the Song Dynasty, and a "Collection of Wang Xizhi's Book of the Tang Tripitaka Preface" made by the Song Dynasty. One piece each of "Water Moon Avalokitesvara" and "Lady" painted by Yin in the Ming and Tang Dynasties. Master Hongyi painted a "Portrait of Sakyamuni" and hand-copied a volume of "Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra".

Porcelain is valuable, including a Yue kiln porcelain bowl from the Song Dynasty, a pair of chicken bowl cups from the Yongzheng reign of the Qing Dynasty, and a pair of double porcelain vases from the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty. A Gu Yuexuan porcelain vase from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, a colored vase from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, and a large blue and white plus purple porcelain bowl from the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty.

There are also examples such as imperial ink-making in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the golden phoenix gold crown of the Jin Dynasty, the Tianhuang stone seal of the "Duti Control Seal" of the Jin Dynasty, the Xuande furnace of the Ming Dynasty, the ancient jade of the Han Dynasty, the jade snuff bottle, the Hotan white jade finger ring, and Zhao Ziyu's cricket Cans and other small items.

Probably there are seventy or eighty items in the pile. They are all museum-level treasures that are officially prohibited from sale. In total, it only cost Hong Yanwu six to seven hundred yuan.

Of course, after all, the environment was dark and it was a hasty purchase. So there are times when you are unlucky and make mistakes.

For example, Yuntai once bought a copy of Mi Fu's "Four Classical Poems", but when he got home, he found that it was a fake copied by someone else.

But fortunately there are no truly modern products these days. In the end, it was discovered that the person who copied it was actually the eleventh son of Qianlong, Prince Cheng Aixinjueluo Yongxuan, who was the best at calligraphy. It was not a complete failure.

This should be regarded as a special market dividend in this era.