Tongqiao Shoulder Poles

Tongqiao Shoulder Poles

　　Suzhou’s bamboo industry produced high-quality bamboo baskets, bamboo beds, cradles, sieves, and other items that were well-regarded and sold far and wide. Among these, the “Tongqiao Shoulder Poles” made on Shantang Street enjoyed even greater fame in the world of bamboo products.

A shoulder pole is a flat, elongated tool used for carrying loads, traditionally made of bamboo or wood. In the old days, poor families, especially in rural areas, almost always had one at home. Whether going out to work or transporting goods, a shoulder pole was indispensable. Some families even engraved a mark on their pole, treating it as a “family treasure.” During the New Year, they would paste red paper on the pole as a symbol of good luck.

There were several shops specializing in selling shoulder poles along the Tongqiao area, with most of the shop owners living in the Jinjia Lane and Bantang areas of Shantang Street—close enough to their shops to manage their businesses easily. The most reputable among them were the three shoulder pole shops: “Cui Juxing,” “Zhou Xiangfa,” and “Zhang Genshui.” What they all had in common was attentive service, a focus on quality, and a commitment to trustworthiness, which earned them the confidence of both local and out-of-town customers. Over time, people came to refer to their products collectively as “Tongqiao Shoulder Poles,” and the name spread far and wide, making them stand out uniquely in the bamboo products industry. The three shop owners each had distinctive appearances: Cui Juxing, the owner of Cui Juxing Shop, whose real name was Cui Jinyuan and who had a pockmarked face, was nicknamed “Pockmarked Boss” or “Pockmarked Shoulder Pole”; Zhou Xiangfa, the owner of Zhou Xiangfa Shop, whose real name was Zhou Xiangnan and who was relatively short in stature, was called “Short Boss” or “Short Shoulder Pole”; while Zhang Genshui’s shop took his own name, and being tall, he was known as “Tall Boss” or “Tall Shoulder Pole.” Their looks became living signboards for their shops.

Tongqiao Shoulder Poles came in dozens of different styles. Based on customer needs, the shop owners could tailor the choice of materials, craftsmanship, length, softness or hardness, and load-bearing capacity to meet exact specifications. They also offered made-to-order services with guaranteed delivery times—never missing a deadline. Moreover, they crafted special shoulder poles to meet the unique demands of users from various regions, such as the “Camellia Shoulder Pole” used by flower farmers at the foot of Tiger Hill, requiring bamboo poles with a diameter of 9.95 inches split into three sections; the “Lotus Root Shoulder Pole” used by lotus farmers in the large ponds near Fengmen, with bamboo poles having a diameter of 13 inches; the “Night Soil Bucket Shoulder Pole” used by sanitation workers outside Panmen, made from particularly tough bamboo; and others like the “Pickled Vegetable Shoulder Pole” used by people from Jiaxing, Zhejiang, and the “Crab Shoulder Pole” used during autumn crab sales. Tongqiao Shoulder Poles were sold as far as Shanghai and Zhejiang, gaining an increasingly high reputation with thriving business.

　　In 1950, during the peak of the cooperative movement, the various shops joined forces to establish the Suzhou No. 5 Bamboo Products Cooperative, located at No. 315 Shantang Street, which was later renamed the Shantang Bamboo Products Cooperative. It subsequently merged with the Rattan Products Cooperative to form the Yan’an Bamboo Products Factory, with its retail outlet at No. 341 Shantang Street, expanding bamboo product manufacturing and wholesale operations. As time passed and transportation became increasingly modernized, farmers no longer needed to rely on the back-breaking labor of carrying loads on shoulder poles. Unable to keep up with the progress of history, the Tongqiao Shoulder Pole found its place in the history museum.