Then there was a buzz of discussion.
The old man who was originally carrying the storage box casually had somehow changed to holding it with both hands, with a look of great caution on his face, as if he was afraid that if it broke, he would be asked to pay for it.
Gao Qiang seemed to think that the time was not right, so he opened the remaining boxes directly.
"We bought this bamboo screen for 180."
"This bamboo hairpin, 65."
"This bamboo pen holder is 38."
"This porcelain bamboo tea bowl is 188."
"This bamboo fruit basket, 108."
"This bamboo sachet is 98."
"We spent a long time negotiating the prices for these. In the specialty store, they would charge dozens of yuan more for each item!"
The last sentence was like a bucket of water poured into a frying pan, instantly splashing and causing a loud noise.
"Village chief, please don't lie to us!"
"How can these things be sold at such a high price? Are the buyers idiots?"
Gao Qiang blinked his eyes, "Are you scolding me?"
“Ahem…” The man waved his hands quickly, “I mean the rest of them.”
The old bamboo craftsman snorted, "You know nothing! There are so many people there!"
Gao Qiang laughed and waved his hand, "Go inside and get a bench. We'll sit down and follow you guys slowly!"
Everyone's interest was piqued, and they quickly ran to the place where the benches were piled up in the village committee, and put them up and sat around Gao Qiang.
Gao Qiang reached out and picked up the bamboo artworks he had bought, handed them to everyone so that they could pass them around and have a look, then he said, "To be honest, at first, Uncle Jun and I were not much better than you. We felt that this trip was meaningless. The craftsmanship of bamboo craftsmen in our village is so famous, why would we need to go to other places to see anything? This is nothing but boosting others' ambitions and destroying our own prestige!"
Everyone nodded, and Gao Qiang continued, "When we got there and saw these things, Uncle Jun and I thought, just like you, what the hell are these things? They don't look like they have any use!"
"Then, when we saw the price, we were all dumbfounded. How could this shit sell for so much? But when we saw the customers in the store happily paying and leaving, saying how comfortable and worthwhile it was, we had nothing to say. It was impossible that all of this was arranged by Mayor Xu!"
Everyone laughed, and Gao Qiang continued, "We learned a lot on the first day, but we also had a lot of confusion. It wasn't until the evening when Mayor Xu explained it to us that we finally understood the reason behind it."
Gao Qiang looked around, meeting everyone's curious and expectant gazes, and said with a smile: "This principle is called survival and life. Mayor Xu also said it is a different definition of value."
"Anyway, no matter what you say, that's what it means. Let me give you a simple analogy. When we eat, a bowl of rice and a bowl of vegetables, we can spend a lot of money if we cook at home. Fifty cents of rice is enough for several people! But the white rice in the city restaurant is charged per person, one dollar per person. If we cook a dish at home, with a little meat, a little vegetables and a little oil, how much can it cost? But the restaurant will charge more than ten or twenty dollars a plate. Why? Because those who can go to the restaurant to consume are all for better taste, or they are too lazy to cook, and don't mind spending a little more money, or spending a little more money is within their affordability. But people like us who spend every penny carefully are not their customers!"
"According to Mayor Xu, the bamboo weaving in Zhuyang Village used to be called...what is it called...Oh, yes, production tools. To put it bluntly, they were all used for work, and they emphasized durability. The buyers were all nearby farmers, so naturally, everyone had a unified understanding that the price was not that high, just the materials plus a little labor."
"But, these things." Gao Qiang stretched out his hand and pointed at the bamboo artworks in the hands of the crowd. "What are these things? They are handicrafts, sold to those rich and tasteful people in the city. They don't buy them as labor tools. What they value is whether the things are good-looking, whether the workmanship is fine, and whether they like them. For the things they like, it doesn't matter whether they cost dozens of yuan or more than a hundred yuan!"
"If our Zhuyang Village can also produce bamboo weaving of this level, and adjust the direction to make things that dolls like, then we won't have to worry about not being able to sell them at a high price!"
He held up a finger and said in a deep voice, "This is the road that the town found for our Zhuyang Village."
Everyone only vaguely understood his previous explanation, but they understood the last two sentences.
So someone asked, "Village head, do you mean that we will make this in the future, send it to the industrial park, and sell it to those city dwellers who come here?"
Gao Qiang nodded. "That's what I mean. Our bamboo weaving craft will be an important part of the folk experience activities, and we will also have finished products for sale. The town's opinion is that since we have this foundation, we should make good use of it. We don't have to follow the example of Hushan Village to grow salvia miltiorrhiza."
"But growing salvia miltiorrhiza can definitely make money, but doing this may not be so profitable!"
"Yeah, we may not be able to make this thing, so why take the risk? Why not ask Hushan Village to help us... Ouch!"
A middle-aged man was speaking when he was suddenly hit on the head with a chestnut. He turned around and saw the old bamboo craftsman looking at him sternly, "If you can't do it, why don't you learn something? I've been running around with the village chief for so many days, haven't I learned a few tricks?"
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