Audio guide introduction: 1 minute 27 seconds
Xinyi City Umbrella Emperor officially opened in 1842. The store's signboard reads: "Founded in the XNUMXnd year of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty." It is one of the few old shops in Hong Kong that still provides umbrella repair services. The ancestral business of Xinyi City has been passed down from generation to generation. It was moved from Guangzhou to Hong Kong due to the war, and it took nearly a century for it to settle down. The umbrellas sold in the store come in a wide range of styles, from ordinary to high-end, so there is always one that suits your needs.
Speaking of umbrellas, their production skills are actually intangible cultural heritage. China has a long history of making umbrellas, and there are different opinions on the origin of umbrellas. Some people say that during the Spring and Autumn Period, Lu Ban's wife saw a craftsman frequently active outdoors, so she made an umbrella to protect him from the rain on rainy days. She uses hand-cut bamboo strips as the frame, and then covers them with animal skins or cloth to make the umbrella canopy. After paper was invented, people used tissue paper to make umbrella covers and then covered them with a layer of waterproof tung oil. Afterwards, trimming, shaping, drying, and painting are carried out. After 70 steps, the umbrella can be successfully made.
In 2013, umbrella-making skills were included in Hong Kong's intangible cultural heritage. Although umbrellas are our daily necessities, in reality most umbrellas are made by machines, and it seems that fewer and fewer people are aware of this skill.