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Fix the "melaleuca base" on the wooden frame, and use a needle to pierce the "melaleuca base" with fine holes. The twine is quickly threaded... On the same day, Liu Wudai, the fourth-generation inheritor of the traditional cloth shoe making skills in Baoding, Hebei Province, was working In the cloth shoe culture museum that I created, the most important part of the traditional Chinese cloth shoe making skills-the shoe sole is displayed.

I saw that his movements were done in one go, and in just a few minutes, the soles of his shoes were filled with fine stitches.

"It's not up to the standard without years of skills." Liu Wudai, who has been making shoes for 28 years, took out a densely lined and stitched sole and said that traditional cloth shoe making skills have strict requirements, and soles must be included. Thousands of stitches, but also to ensure that the stitches are even and fine, otherwise it will affect the comfort of the shoes. "Manual shoemaking is not only a physical job, but also a technical job."

According to reports, to make a pair of traditional handmade cloth shoes, there are more than a dozen processes such as cutting samples, preparing melaleuca soles, edging, hammering soles, long shoes, last shoes, and baking shoes. Since the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, the craftsmanship of handmade cloth shoes passed down by Liu's family has a history of more than 140 years. This year, the technique was selected as the representative list of intangible cultural heritage in Baoding City, Hebei Province.

Liu Wudai said that handmade cloth shoes have a long history in China. They are not only comfortable and healthy, but also reflect traditional skills in every step. Therefore, each pair of handmade cloth shoes is "unique". However, with the development of society and the prosperity of industrial shoemaking, this traditional Chinese skill has gradually declined.

In order to better pass on, over the years, Liu Wudai changed his mind and devoted his energy to the innovation of traditional old cloth shoes. He traveled to Wenzhou, Nanjing, Shenzhen and other regions to investigate the fashion trend of new handmade cloth shoes. Based on the advantages of his own traditional handmade cloth shoes, he merged with contemporary popular culture elements, and treated traditional old cloth shoes as a "trend" industry.

"Not only the elderly, more and more young people are also beginning to like cloth shoes." Nowadays, Liu Wudai has launched more than 20 kinds of various styles and fancy products, with an annual output of more than 200,000 pairs, which are sold well in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, etc. Big cities, and go abroad, exported to South Korea, Russia.

In order to let more people understand the Chinese cloth shoe culture, in 2016, Liu Wudai mobilized his relatives and friends to collect old shoe-making objects and old shoes with historical value, and built a cloth shoe culture museum. Over the past few years, this museum has collected more than 1,200 pairs of shoes from different periods and nationalities such as flag shoes, clogs, hemp sandals, embroidered shoes, as well as various shoe-making tools such as old spinning wheels, looms, and shoe lasts. Walking into it is like entering the "world of shoes".

After the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia in 2020, Liu Wudai's cloth shoes sales were affected. In the dilemma, with the encouragement of his son, he began to try the popular live streaming products. Liu Wudai, who is not good at words, was quite nervous when facing the camera for the first time. However, what surprised him was that the live broadcast worked well, and many netizens watched and interacted with him.

"Some merchants learned about our cloth shoes through live broadcast, and they took the initiative to contact us to supply them." Liu Wudai said that the live broadcast has broadened sales channels. From March to May 2020, their cloth shoes sales reached 60,000 pairs, which is the same as the same period in previous years. The ratio increased by 30%.

"Good craftsmanship still needs someone to succeed." Liu Wudai said that his biggest wish is to be able to bring good apprentices and pass on the old craftsmanship. Liu Wudai set up 10 hand-made cloth shoe processing contact points in Shunping County, Baoding City, and taught the villagers skills with his heart, and drove more than 30 surrounding villages to engage in shoe soles, shoe soles and other work. "With more people joining the inheritance team, I believe that healthy and comfortable traditional cloth shoes will be rejuvenated."