Luban Wedge

"Luban Wedge" takes Qufu, Shandong Province in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China as the starting point, and unfolds a magnificent scroll of craftsmen's persistence and inheritance. It tells the story of craftsman Lin Yan, who takes "craftsmanship as conscience" as his soul and writes the legend of craftsmanship in the torrent of the times. Lin Yan was born into a craftsman family in Lu. He has been immersed in the folk customs of wood selection and axe-cutting since he was a child. He inherited his father's ancestral motto of "a steady house and a good heart". However, because he adhered to the craftsman's bottom line, he got involved in a conflict with the squire and experienced the hardships of adhering to craftsmanship for the first time. In order to find the true meaning of craftsmanship, he traveled along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, built dams with glutinous rice mortar, and built ancient Linqing pagodas with Luban locks. He met martyrs during the water transport crisis, revitalized endangered ancient buildings, and understood the power of craftsmanship to save the world. When Lin Yan was called to Beijing to build the Forbidden City, he faced the darkest test in his life: the traitorous officials secretly tried to destroy the imperial city with a curse. He solved the problem with every millimeter of ingenuity, and used the mortise and tenon mechanism to turn the curse into auspiciousness to protect the imperial city. In the construction of bricks and caissons, he maintained his craftsmanship and the tranquility of his family and country. After his success, he resolutely returned to his hometown, put aside the glory of building temples, and devoted himself to building bridges, paving roads, and repairing fireworks in folk houses. He condensed what he had learned throughout his life into "Lu Ban Shu" and taught it to his disciples. From the roots of Lu to the palace of the imperial capital, from the wind and waves on the canal to the fireworks in Sangzi, the Luban wedge in Lin Yan's hand is not only an instrument that connects the mortise and tenon, but also a link between ingenuity and conscience. With solid folk details and ups and downs of the plot, the novel interprets the true meaning of "craftsmanship is conscience", allowing the craftsmanship that has spanned a century to shine over the years, becoming an affectionate hymn dedicated to traditional skills and craftsman spirit.