Tianjin Lao Meihua's handmade shoemaking skills have been around for nearly a hundred years since the establishment of Lao Meihua Shoe Store in the early years of the Republic of China (1911). Its traditional shoemaking skills are mainly reflected in four traditional handmade products: Kunjian shoes, embroidered shoes, Hangyuan shoes and camel saddle shoes. The traditional handmade craftsmanship of the four types of shoes includes 50 processes, with exquisite craftsmanship, fine workmanship, high craftsmanship requirements, complex processes and high technical difficulty. Their commonality is the traditional craftsmanship of thousand-layer soles, which is exquisitely crafted and can be called a treasure of the inheritance of national folk craftsmanship. It has been loved by consumers for a hundred years. The traditional craft is used to make the thousand-layer cloth sole. The raw materials are two layers of white cloth as "paper clips" (scientific name is "袼褙"), and the soles reach 3640 layers of white cloth (14 layers of paper clips with padding). The raw materials are required to be free of mixed colors and bad cloth cannot be used. Draw patterns on the paper clips, cut the bottom patterns, wrap the edges, wrap the bottom layer of the bottom patterns with new white cloth, pad the interlayer, twist the hemp rope, circle the edges, cover the cloth bottom with a silk slit, print the color and press the print, and then use the printed color as a mark to make the hemp sole by hand, with 81 stitches per square inch. The soles require the use of hemp from Anhui in summer and oil hemp from Zhangjiakou, Hebei in winter. Because the hemp from Anhui is moderately soft and hard for summer wear, and the oil hemp soles in winter are more durable. The finished soles are soaked in 60-degree water in a large vat, pressed with a 2-inch thick wooden cover, and sealed around the mouth of the vat for 24 hours, so that the soles and threads will not fall off, increasing the fastness. After the vat is opened, the shape of the sole is corrected with a wooden hammer and dried in sunlight or an oven. This process is called sole shaping. The process requires strict adherence to the sole operation essentials dictated by the predecessors: "the sole should be well stitched, the thread should be firm, the insole should be graceful, and the stitches should be even." To this day, "Lao Meihua" still inherits this traditional craft of making cloth soles; in addition to thousand-layer cloth soles, traditional high-end cowhide soles are also made. The traditional needle-stitching process is used in the production, which has the characteristics of beautiful appearance, comfort and breathability. Information source: China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) Information source: China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)