Tibetan Knife Maker

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 ◆ Tibetan Knife Maker

In Tibet, the name "Ceilong" is synonymous with high-quality knives. The first Ceilong knives were made by Cedain Wangyai, a skilled knife-maker in Ihaze County in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, with a secret crafting skill handed down through generations. The knife is an indispensable tool for Tibetan people, who use it to cut meat, to defend themselves, and for endless other purposes. Nowadays, many Tibetans wedge their knives into their waistbands as ornaments. Cedain Wangyai works in the fields during the busy farming season and makes knives in the off-months. He can only make one knife a day in summer and can barely finish one a day in winter, when the hours of daylight decrease. He carves the word "Ceilong" on each knife. Now, his son has become as skillful at knife-making as his dad. Cedain Sr. has demonstrated his knife-making process on Tibetan television, explaining to viewers the difficulties of mastering the duration and degree of heating required for the steel. According to family tradition, the technique can only be handed down to male Cedain descendants. Though Cedain loves his only daughter deeply, he refuses to pass on the secret to her. Instead of setting up a booth of his knives at markets, Cedain sells them at home. Crowds of Chinese and foreigners travel over land and water to buy his creations. Cedain has a hectare of farmland, eight heads of cattle and 100 sheep. The 11-member family earns an annual income of more than 20,000 yuan (US$2,440), of which some 5,000 yuan comes from knife sales.