Leatherworker cover

Leatherworker

Rating 3.7
Word count
104K words
Chapters
94
ISBN
9787520531214

Tags

Summary

This series is the result of the author's decades of fieldwork, listening to craftsmen one by one and presenting their stories to readers in the form of oral history. It recounts the entrepreneurial stories and professional dedication of numerous craftsmen rescued and unearthed from various historical periods in Jilin Province, including blacksmiths, carpenters, leatherworkers, confectioners, and sugar-makers, and is of significant historical value. The series offers a fairly comprehensive record of people's economic life—and even spiritual life—in the realms of food, medicine, commerce, handicrafts, manufacturing, and processing. These are indispensable 'shop names'; their founding, birth, development, and even their closure or failure are all microcosms of history. Every 'point' concerning a craftsman here is a record of that family's ancestors' entrepreneurial achievements in history, beginning with an 'individual case,' developing into a craftsman, and displaying a full and vivid cultural force.

Editor's review

The Cobbler continues Cao Baoming's method of field investigation and oral history, preserving the entrepreneurial experiences, craft transmission, and dedication of Jilin cobblers through first-person accounts. The book's strength lies in refusing to treat artisans as symbols, instead restoring their family lineages, business ups and downs, and trade rules, so that readers see how a cobbler's workshop—from its birth and growth to possible closure or failure—becomes a microcosm of local economic life. The oral materials retain extensive details of work processes, materials, jargon, and interpersonal dealings, offering reference value for folklore studies, social history, and intangible cultural heritage preservation. The language is plain and the passages fragmentary, suited to slow and selective reading. Readers may treat it as an oral archive of craftspeople, understanding the professional ethics and survival wisdom of traditional handicraft workers through concrete cases. For readers interested in Northeast local culture, traditional leather processing, and folk commercial forms, the book provides rare material centered on artisans' own accounts, while also reminding readers to attend to the memory choices and historical context behind oral testimony.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Readers interested in traditional leather processing and handicraft history
  • Local cultural workers engaged in intangible cultural heritage surveys and folklore documentation
  • Humanities readers who enjoy oral history and case-based narratives
  • Writers and researchers seeking material on folk commerce in Northeast China

Not a good fit for

  • Readers hoping for a practical leather-making tutorial
  • Academic readers who prefer systematic theoretical frameworks and macro-level analysis
  • Readers impatient with fragmentary oral narratives

Reading tips

  1. Skim the table of contents first, then read closely the sections on leather work processes or family businesses.
  2. Keep a notebook and make a simple index by artisan, period, and work process.
  3. Read alongside other volumes in the same series, such as The Blacksmith, to observe commonalities and differences across trades.
  4. After reading, verify contradictions or gaps in the oral accounts to train awareness of source criticism.

About the publisher

China Culture and History Press China · Founded in 1980

China Culture and History Press has long devoted itself to modern and contemporary literature and culture-and-history reading matter, with publishing directions centered on classic works, social novels, prose and miscellaneous writings, and Eastern philosophy, alongside culture-and-history periodicals such as Zongheng. Among the more than 1,500 titles in the collection, representative books include Zhang Henshui's Ti Xiao Yin Yuan, Lu Xun's Complete Classic Works (10 volumes) and Wild Grass, and Lao She's Four Generations Under One Roof series and the boxed set of Lao She's Classic Works (10 volumes), while its author resources are concentrated on figures such as Zhang Henshui, Lu Xun, Lao She and Sima Qian. Its publishing character lies in solid editorial work on culture-and-history source texts and in issuing famous authors' works in sets, balancing the readability of individual texts with the systematic presentation of complete collections for focused reading and collecting. Beyond these directions, public information on the press's contemporary original publishing is limited, so it is not elaborated here.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 作者简介
  3. 序 心怀东北大地的文化人——曹保明全集序
  4. 前言 寻找
  5. 第一章 亲历皮匠人家
  6. 一、皮匠世家
  7. 二、落脚关东开皮铺
  8. 三、走进皮匠的记忆
  9. 四、走进鼓作坊
  10. 第二章 皮匠工具
  11. 一、大缸
  12. 二、刮凳
  13. 三、刮毛铲
  14. 四、皮铲
  15. 五、皮梳
  16. 六、刮刀
  17. 七、裁刀
  18. 八、晾凳
  19. 九、砸床
  20. 十、钻子
  21. 十一、钻针
  22. 十二、锥子
  23. 十三、鞭车子
  24. 十四、套勒子
  25. 十五、靰鞡楦子
  26. 十六、土灶
  27. 第三章 皮匠作业的主要过程
  28. 一、收皮子
  29. 二、买缸
  30. 三、沤皮子
  31. 四、开刮
  32. 五、脱灰
  33. 六、清洗
  34. 七、漂白
  35. 八、熏皮子
  36. 九、冻皮子
  37. 十、刮冻皮
  38. 十一、晾冻皮
  39. 十二、割皮子
  40. 十三、片皮子
  41. 十四、开缝
  42. 十五、砍楦子
  43. 十六、炕靰鞡
  44. 十七、钉钉子
  45. 十八、上耳子
  46. 十九、絮靰鞡草
  47. 二十、抻皮子
  48. 二十一、裁剪
  49. 二十二、定型
  50. 二十三、送货
  51. 第四章 皮艺与东北
  52. 一、狗皮帽子
  53. 二、皮袄和皮裤
  54. 三、制神服
  55. 四、手闷子
  56. 五、褥子和睡袋、皮袋
  57. 六、皮人
  58. 七、皮子艺术
  59. 八、生活的响动
  60. 九、脸谱
  61. 第五章 皮匠所熟悉的动物
  62. 一、鼠皮
  63. 二、牛皮
  64. 三、虎皮
  65. 四、兔皮
  66. 五、蛇皮
  67. 六、马皮
  68. 七、羊皮
  69. 八、狗皮
  70. 九、猪皮
  71. 十、猫皮
  72. 十一、犴达罕皮
  73. 十二、鹿皮
  74. 十三、熊皮
  75. 十四、猞猁狲皮
  76. 十五、狐狸皮
  77. 十六、狍子皮
  78. 十七、貂皮
  79. 十八、狼皮
  80. 十九、鱼皮
  81. 二十、海龙皮
  82. 第六章 皮匠口述
  83. 一、施贵卿口述(五峰村老队长)
  84. 二、张恕贵口述(长白山皮艺第三代传人)
  85. 三、张顺海口述(长白山皮艺第四代传人)
  86. 四、曾宪明口述(五峰村现任村长)
  87. 五、李淑珍口述(张氏皮铺第三代传人张恕贵的妻子)
  88. 六、白庆平口述(东北范家屯著名老皮匠)
  89. 第七章 皮匠与皮铺的习俗和故事
  90. 一、皮铺习俗
  91. 二、皮铺歇后语、对联
  92. 三、皮匠和皮铺的故事
  93. 第八章 并不远离
  94. 后记 停在东北深处

FAQ

What is the relationship between this book and The Blacksmith?
Both belong to Cao Baoming's series documenting Jilin craftspeople through oral history, focusing respectively on blacksmiths and cobblers. The method is the same but the subjects differ. Reading them together reveals similarities and differences in family transmission, business methods, and trade rules across crafts, and gives a fuller picture of the series as a whole.
Does the book contain specific details of leather craftsmanship?
The book retains many work processes, materials, and jargon as told by cobblers—craft details preserved in oral memory—but it is not a systematic how-to manual. Readers can learn the general flow of traditional leather processing and trade experience, but practical study still requires specialized technical materials.
Will general readers find the book dull?
It depends on expectations. The book consists mainly of artisans' first-person accounts; it is fragmentary and lacks a continuous plot, but precisely for that reason it preserves vivid details of everyday life. Readers who enjoy hearing elders tell old stories and are interested in crafts and local culture will find it accessible; those expecting novel-like narrative may find it loose.

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About the author

曹保明 Author

Cao Baoming is an author about whom limited public information is available; what can be confirmed is that seven of his works are listed on this site. Judging from their subjects, he has long focused on traditional handicrafts and the regional culture of Northeast China. Paper Craftsman, Blacksmith, Leatherworker, Noodle Maker and Confectioner each portray artisans in a different trade, documenting their techniques and working lives. Retracing the Northeast Asian Silk Road deals with regional history and geographical exploration, while Nianhua of the Chuang Guandong Migration focuses on folk art. His writing sits between industrial technology, history and art, favouring field-research-style records and accessible narration, offering general readers a readable entry into folk crafts that are fading from everyday life.

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