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Subject:Dexing or Decheng Cloisonne Factory 德興成 - translation help, please.
Posted By: beadiste Tue, Feb 03, 2015 IP: 206.174.65.131

Working on a blog post about a 1935 paper flyer found in a cloisonne box, that appears to be from the famous Dexing workshop.

I recognize the first 3 characters, but, being illiterate in Chinese, cannot read the last three.

This seems interesting to me, as evidently this shop was still open when U.S. servicemen were in Peking following the end of World War II.

"Peiping," of course, was the name given to the city when the Nationalists moved the capital south to Nanjing in 1927.





Subject:Re: Dexing or Decheng Cloisonne Factory 德興成 - translation help, please.
Posted By: rat Wed, Feb 04, 2015

the first three read Dexingcheng, the last three are falang zhuang, where falang means "enamel" and zhuang means "shop".

Subject:Thank you, rat - makes better sense!
Posted By: beadiste Thu, Feb 05, 2015

Again, thank you so much, rat, for the accurate translation. "zhuang" make a lot more sense than "ju" or "chu" or whatever.

I wonder if this workshop was still hanging on when the government re-organized the cloisonne workshops into a state-run enterprise in the mid-1950s?

Subject:Cracked open the Clague Collection book
Posted By: beadiste Wed, Feb 04, 2015

and found that Claudia Brown, the curator, translates the characters as
Decheng falang ju
or
Te-ch'eng fa-lang chu

"Falang" is apparently an old term for "enamel," reflecting the foreign origins of cloisonne in China.
As to "ju," the online translations seem to interpret it as more of a military term - "station" - but I guess "workshop" might fit?

Cool that the place was still in operation after WWII though, eh?

And I don't mean to be a blog ho, but you can read all about it at the link.




URL Title :Decheng Flyer from 1935



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