Xiangtan Shigu Ma Xie Shigu Travel Umbrella

Happiness Village, Hualou Village and Tongliang Village, located at the foot of Changshan Mountain in Shigu Town, have a history of making umbrellas for hundreds of years. Before liberation, there were as many as 3000 people engaged in umbrella making. The annual output of umbrellas is 6.5438+0.2 million, and the products are exported to Xiangtan, Changsha, Yichang, Hankou, Anqing and Nanjing. Fake flying umbrellas, homemade flower umbrellas, shed umbrellas and tarpaulin umbrellas have also been sold to Hengyang, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao, and exported to Singapore and Malaysia. But on the eve of liberation, the umbrella industry, like other industries, declined and disappeared. It was not until after liberation that the government paid attention to the umbrella-making industry, and in 1952, under the leadership of the Party, a working group was sent to rectify the umbrella-making workers, and the "Xiangtan Guoxing Umbrella-making Production Cooperative" was established in the former Moshi Ancestral Hall of Jiangjunqiao, and the umbrella-making industry flourished again. From the late 1950s to the early 1960s, umbrella-making technology entered a critical period of technical improvement, innovation and progress. During this period, fashionable and beautiful sun umbrellas and Fifi umbrellas were developed, and their products were also exported to Central and South Asian countries.

In the middle and late 1960s, durable metal cloth umbrellas became popular in the market, and the production and sales of traditional oil umbrellas began to decline. From the 1970s to the early 1980s, small and exquisite folding umbrellas became popular, and oil umbrellas were gradually eliminated by the market, so the production of oil umbrellas became history.

After the reform and opening up, the quiet rise of tourism and global economic integration have injected new vitality and vitality into the Shigu umbrella industry. The stone drum umbrella-making technology organically grafts the traditional umbrella-making technology with people's fashion consumption demand, and develops and produces tourist umbrellas. Since then, the stone drum umbrella industry has entered a steady development of production and operation track.

Up to now, there are 42 umbrella-making enterprises and family workshops in Shigu Town * * *, employing about1.2000 people, producing more than 4.6 million tourist umbrellas and 3 million finished umbrellas annually, with an output value of about1.5000 yuan. Among the 42 umbrella-making enterprises, there are 14 umbrella-making enterprises with an annual output value of more than/kloc-0.5 million yuan, among which the umbrella-making industry is the largest, with an annual production scale of more than 300,000 pieces, followed by Zhou Hanyu and Zhou of Happiness Village, with an annual output value of more than 6,543,800 yuan.

There are many kinds of Shigu tourist umbrellas, which are divided into four series: silk umbrella, cloth umbrella, leather umbrella and velvet umbrella. According to the size of the umbrella, there are 8 specifications: 15 cm ~ 600 cm (umbrella surface diameter). According to the use of umbrellas, there are three series: decorative umbrellas, tourist umbrellas and craft umbrellas. There are 10 painted faces, totaling more than 500 varieties.

Today's stone drum umbrella, the function of * * * has expanded from the single rainproof function in the past to rainproof, sunshade, viewing, decoration, gift and collection, and is widely used in advertising, business etiquette, food decoration, photography, stage props and so on. Stone drum umbrella is not only people's material life consumer goods, but also an important spiritual life consumer goods. The concept of umbrella as a single function of rain gear has been completely rewritten by history.

With the change of umbrella function, the market of Shigu tourist umbrella is located in large and medium-sized cities and scenic spots in developed countries and regions. The main consumer groups are located in middle and high income groups. In 2005, Shigu tourist umbrellas were sold to Beijing, Hangzhou, Fujian, Guilin, Nanyue and other places, and exported to the United States, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Italy, Taiwan Province and other countries and regions, accounting for 90% of the total output.

The stone drum umbrella industry can survive for 100 years, which shows that it has strong industrial vitality. This vitality is determined by its rich product connotation and specific market demand. First of all, in the early days of the umbrella industry, umbrellas, as indispensable daily necessities, provided a broad market space for the umbrella industry. The diversification of product uses and the integration of global economy have rapidly expanded the geographical space and consumer groups of the umbrella market, and accelerated the pace of Shigu umbrellas going out of Hunan and going abroad. Secondly, the umbrella industry is a typical labor-intensive industry. More than 80 processes are all hand-made, with fine division of labor and high degree of specialization. Based on the current output of Shigu, more than 500 rural laborers can be transferred on the spot, and the annual labor income is more than 3 million yuan. The main raw materials for making umbrellas are bamboo, miscellaneous wood and tung oil, which can promote the development of related industries in rural areas. Therefore, the countryside provides fertile soil for the development of umbrella industry. In addition, there are more than 80 processes in umbrella making technology that require skilled manual skills. The development history of more than 100 years in the stone drum umbrella making industry has nurtured generations of umbrella making technicians and management and marketing talents. It is the most valuable human resource in the stone drum umbrella making industry and has laid a solid foundation for industrial development. Fourth, the organic grafting of traditional science and technology and fashion consumption concept, the organic integration of natural resources, human resources and market resources, and the organic linkage of industrialization, urbanization and agricultural industrialization. It endows the Shigu umbrella industry with the connotation of "traditional characteristics" in the industrial era, and its industrial development is rich in "memories". Fifth, due to the industrial characteristics of pure hand-making, the umbrella industry does not have too high requirements for venues, equipment and funds, and it is suitable for the production and operation organization form of decentralized production, assembly line and unified sales, which is a development advantage that other manufacturing industries do not have.

Shigu umbrella industry has a long history, rich resources, solid foundation and considerable market demand, and its products have distinct competitive advantages and broad development prospects. Its appearance will add a lot of color to the local economic development of Shigu Town.

Buildings are tall, streets are wide, street lamps are on, and there are more shops ... Shigu Town, once remote and backward, is now one of the largest distribution centers for agricultural products in the surrounding areas, with many merchants, well-informed information and active tertiary industry.