燈影里的舊時光

◇ 文|本刊記者 陳科龍 圖| 劉汪洋

燈影里的舊時光

◇ 文|本刊記者 陳科龍 圖| 劉汪洋

本刊在7月特別推出《亞細亞，火油，重慶……你能想象這些詞匯如何關聯》一文，講述了位于唐家沱的亞細亞火油廠的前世今生，勾勒出中國近代外資石油在重慶的發展脈絡。對于大多數人來說，“火油”是一個頗為陌生的詞語，但年歲稍長的人一定記得那個用油燈照明的年代，一定記得黑夜里的那盞孤燈和燈影里的嬉笑怒罵……

Of the last issue,there is an article giving an account of the development of Asiatic Petroleum Plant located in Tangjiatuo,Chongqing.It also outlined the development of foreign petroleum companies in Chongqing in China’s modern times.The word “huoyou”(simplified Chinese: 火 油 ,meaning kerosene) is alien to most young people,while the middle-aged and elders must keep in memory the years when kerosene lamps were used,the solitary lamp that illuminated the dark night,and the happy life in its shadow.

父輩口中的“洋油”

Parents Talked about “Yangyou”

火油，或許沒幾個人聽說過這個詞。我們的父輩和祖輩管它叫“洋油”，也就是我們現在所說的煤油。顧名思義，“洋油”屬于舶來品，就如“洋火”“洋釘”“洋布”“洋車”一般。

十九世紀末二十世紀初，隨著重慶成為開埠城市，火油進入重慶。當時，在重慶銷售火油的洋商主要有美孚、亞細亞和德士古，他們既銷售煤油，也銷售汽油、柴油、機油等。美孚是最早進入重慶的火油洋商，而亞細亞在重慶的火油銷售則在萬州一戶鐘姓富商手中，他與漢口亞細亞分公司簽訂了代理四川買辦協議。隨后，亞細亞火油公司派出買辦左德范到重慶做銷售代理，繼而直接派洋員到重慶設立分公司，建立經銷點。

亞細亞重慶分公司在重慶的鋪排，左德范可謂極盡周到之能事。左德范在重慶設立了亞細亞火油公司總銷處，一面積極推銷，一面招攬經銷商建立銷售網，并多方打探“敵營”美孚的經濟情報，供亞細亞“大班”參考，逐漸打開了火油在重慶乃至四川的銷路。同時，左德范也博得了亞細亞公司的信任，并從鐘姓富商手中攘奪了買辦權利，獨任亞細亞重慶買辦十余年。

當時，亞細亞火油公司在重慶市內發展了5處經銷商，并在萬州、奉節、成都、宜賓、瀘州等地發展了30多家經銷商。經銷商再分區向周圍場鎮發展分銷店或代理處。這樣一來，亞細亞的銷售網絡遍布了重慶乃至四川的各個角落。

在銷售火油初期，亞細亞在廣告宣傳上也不遺余力，花費了很大的代價做廣告，凡市內各重鎮或要道處都懸掛有形形色色的廣告，如“點亞細亞火油”“明亮、無煙、價格低廉、火力強，點燈燒飯均方便”等大字廣告。無形中，這些廣告宣傳讓習慣使用植物油作為燈油的老百姓，漸漸接受了煤油。

Maybe few people have ever heard the word “huoy-ou”,which is also called “yangyou”by our parents and grand-parents.It means imported oil or kerosene.According to its name,“yangyou”is an imported product,similar to “yanghuo”(imported matches),“yangding”(imported nails),“yangbu”(imported cotton cloths),and“yangche”(imported cars).

At the end of 19th century and the beginning of 20th century,Chongqing opened its ports for foreign trade,thus bringing kerosene into the city.At that time,foreign businesses,mainly as Mobil,Asiatic Petroleum Company and Texaco,were selling kerosene and gasoline,diesel,engine oil in Chongqing.Mobil was the first kerosene company to enter Chongqing.A rich businessman called Zhong in Wanzhou entered into a contract with Hankou branch of Asiatic Petroleum Company as a comprador.Later,the company sent comprador Zuo Defan as a sales representative to Chongqing,and soon afterwards sent their local employees to set up branch of fice and distribution points in the city.

Zuo Defan was extremely considerate as of arranging Chongqing branch of Asiatic Petroleum Company.After setting up a central sales department in Chongqing,he worked hard on promoting and marketing,and tried to collect business information of its competitor,Mobil,thus expanding the market share of the products in Chongqing and even in Sichuan Province.Meanwhile,as Zuo Defan gained the trust of the company,he kicked off the comprador and ran the business on his own for more than ten years.

Back then,Asiatic Petroleum Company owned five distributors in Chongqing,and over thirty in such places as Wanzhou,Fengjie,Chengdu,Yibin,and Luzhou.These distributors opened retail shops or agencies in surrounding towns,and thereby covering all corners in Chongqing and even in Sichuan.

Early when Asiatic Petroleum Company sold kerosene,it spent a lot on advertisement that could be seen in major towns and leading thoroughfares,including eye-catching slogans such as “Light Asiatic Kerosene”“bright,smoke-free,giveaway price,well-lit and convenient for lighting lamp and cooking”.People who were used to vegetable oil lamp virtually accepted kerosene.

時尚洋氣的美孚燈

Stylish Mobil Lamp

在火油尚未用于照明前，重慶和中國其他城市及廣大農村一樣，夜里照明用的是燈盞，燈盞里燃的大都是桐油、菜油、豆油等植物油或動物油。

大約在上世紀60年代，煤油進入中國沿海地區。巨大的商機使煤油成為洋商最初在中國打開市場的主要商品之一。當時銷售煤油的美孚公司和德士古公司是美商，亞細亞公司是英商，他們之間明爭暗斗，競爭十分激烈。

為了搶占市場，美孚公司捷足先登，設計出一款新的油燈——美孚燈。這種油燈由燈體、“機關燈頭”和玻璃罩三部分組成。燈體在下面，大多是一個圓形的玻璃瓶體，用于儲油。瓶口的燈芯帶連接至一個銅制的“機關燈頭”，燈頭外有一個旋鈕，可以調節燈芯帶的長短，燈芯帶伸出越長，燈光就越亮，反之則越暗。玻璃燈罩一般是葫蘆形狀，一頭插在燈芯帶調節裝置上，一頭為排煙口。與傳統的油燈相比，美孚燈因為有擋風的燈罩，不會像其他油燈那樣閃爍晃眼，而且還可以控制燈光的亮度，因而受到人們的追捧，成為盛行一時的油燈。

只要賣出一盞燈，也就推銷了一戶用油量，美孚公司深諳傾銷煤油的訣竅。美孚初到重慶，首先向經銷商贈送或低價發售美孚燈，讓他們以六七分錢的價格隨煤油一起銷售，或者零星送給用戶。隨后，美孚公司在重慶開設了專門的燈具商店，聘請當時重慶規模較大的恒孚百貨商店的經理史幼云為“特別經理”。史幼云便利用恒孚百貨的店堂和櫥窗作為宣傳場地，大肆推銷美孚燈。同時，他還吩咐人手將美孚燈發往各地，上門推銷，美孚燈于是在重慶逐漸推廣。

亞細亞火油公司也設計生產了手燈、風雨燈等火油燈，但由于產品的樣式、質量等原因，遠遠不及美孚燈的銷售數量。

Before kerosene was applied to illumination,the oil lamp was largely used in Chongqing like other cities and the vast countryside in China.Normally,vegetable oil such as tung oil,rapeseed oil and bean oil,and animal oil were included.

Approximately in 1960s,kerosene was introducedin the coastal area of China.It was one of the major products for foreign businessmen to open up China’s market as there was a huge business opportunity.Furious competition emerged among corporations which sold kerosene,including Mobil and Texaco from America,and Asiatic Petroleum Company from Britain.

To seize the market,Mobil took the initiative to work out a new type of lamp,Mobil lamp.This lamp consisted of a body,a mechanical holder and a glass dome.The body was usually a round-shaped glass bottle at the bottom of the lamp and was used for storing oil.A wick at the bottleneck was connected to a copper mechanical holder.A knob,outside of the holder,was used for regulating the length of the wick.The longer the wick extended,the brighter the lamp illuminated and vice versa.The glass dome,usually with an hourglass shape,was set on the regulating device of the wick while the other end of the dome was smoke outlet.Comparing to traditional oil lamp,Mobil lamp was less flickering and glaring thanks to the dome shielding off the wind,besides,the luminance of the lamp could be adjusted.As a result,Mobil won popularity and prevailed for a time.

It was a dumping trick that once a lamp was sold,the oil consumption of a family would be increased.Upon its first arrival in Chongqing,Mobil sold Mobil lamps to franchisers in low price or for free,then told them to sell the lamps at 6 or 7 cents and bundled with kerosene,or gave some customers lamps for free.Later on,Mobil opened special stores of lamps and hired Shi Youyun,manager of the large-scale Heng Fu Department Store in Chongqing,as their special manager.Shi took advantage of the hall and show window in Heng Fu Store as publicity site and trumpeted Mobil lamps.

Meanwhile,he asked his men to send Mobil lamps to every place and adopted the approach of door-to-door selling.Thus,Mobil lamps gradually became popular in Chongqing.

Asiatic Petroleum Company designed some other kerosene lamps such as lanterns,storm-proof lamps,etc,.However,the sales volume of these lamps was far less than that of Mobil lamps because of their pattern and quality.

記憶里的那盞煤油燈

Kerosene Lamp in My Memory

美孚燈雖然美觀實用，畢竟費油，許多尋常老百姓家不大用得起，他們常常用自制的簡易煤油燈。

至今，我依然記得外公家的那盞煤油燈。那是一個用舊墨水瓶制成的煤油燈，瓶口上箍有一個鐵皮蓋，蓋上鉆有一個小窟窿，用薄鐵皮卷成的鐵管插在窟窿正中，一條細長的用棉線捻成的燈芯，一頭深入到裝滿煤油的舊墨水瓶中，一頭從鐵管中穿出。為避免煤油臟手，細心的外公還在墨水瓶外箍上了一道鐵皮，并且扎了個把手，方便提攜。

那是一種極為簡易卻又給人無比溫暖的燈，在漫長漆黑的夜晚，這如豆的光亮帶給我兒時生活許多的歡欣和無限的樂趣。每當夜幕降臨，那盞隨風閃爍的煤油燈就是一家人的中心，全家老幼圍坐在煤油燈的周圍笑逐顏開，外婆不時拿起剪刀除去燒焦的燈芯碳殼。

小小的油燈雖然簡陋，用起來卻還有一些竅門。如果燈芯拔得太大太長，不僅費油還會冒黑煙；燈芯燃燒的時間長了，就會結出一層薄薄的碳殼，需要用剪刀剪去碳殼，或者拿針挑去碳殼，這便是“剪燈”與“挑燈”。

在那些艱苦的歲月里，一斤煤油抵得上半斤豬肉，一般家庭用油都是非常節儉的。為了節省燈油，有的人家盡量少點燈，或者縮短用燈的時間，有的人家則把燈芯掐得很低很低，還有的窮苦人家甚至長年累月不點燈，一家老小在晚上摸黑生活。

煤油燈是電燈出現前的主要照明工具，是我們父輩、祖輩生活中的必需品。時代的變遷有時需要經歷很漫長的歲月，有時只是一轉眼。如今，煤油燈已經在人們視線里漸漸遠去，一種樸素而古老的生活方式在煤油燈退出時代之后，也日漸離我們遠去了。

Mobil lamps were nice-looking and useful but not economical on fuel,many ordinary people couldn’t afford it.Instead,they chose to use home-made simple kerosene lamps.

So far,I still remember the kerosene lamp used by my grandfather.That kerosene lamp was made of a used ink bottle.An iron sheet lid with a small hole was hooped around the mouth of the bottle and an iron sheet was rolled into a pipe,which was plugged in the hole.A long piece of cotton thread was twisted into a lamp wick,whose one side went deep into the ink bottle filled with kerosene and another side went out from the pipe.Besides,my grandfather hooped a piece of iron sheet around the ink bottle for preventing hands from getting greasy and bundled an easy-to-grab handle on it.

It was a very simple lamp that gave people much warmth.The little light filled my childhood with much happiness and endless joy in every long and dark night.When night fell,all of my families sat around the fl ickering light talking and laughing.Grandmother would cut off the scorched part of the lamp wick from time to time.

There are some knacks for using the small and crude kerosene lamp.People should pull out certain length of the wick for avoid excessive fuel consumption and black smoke.A thin piece of carbon shell would appear after long time usage and it should be removed by a scissor or a needle,which was called “Jian Deng”or“Tiao Deng”.

In those hard days,one catty of kerosene was almost equal to half catty of lard,so every family was frugal on kerosene.To save kerosene,some families wouldn’t light the lamp unless it was necessary,some would keep the lamp wick very low and some even didn’t light the lamp all the year round.

The kerosene lamp was the main lighting tool before the electric lamp and it was one necessity of our parents and grandparents.The changes of times could be a very long time or just a moment.Nowadays,the simple and immemorial lifestyle has gone with the disappearance of the kerosene lamp.

The Good Old Days in the Lamp Shadow

Article/ Chen Kelong Pictures/ Liu Wangyang