作者：Daniel
翻譯：Daniel、Joanne
校對：Luz、Zuzana、Joanne
Hello everybody! I’m Daniel from London, UK. I’m a Chinese language undergrad student at Xiamen university, and I’ve been here for three years. I want to share a story about my unique hobby and?how I managed to set it up in China! I hope you’re interested in history and metallurgy, if not, you can always skip to the end and look at the pictures! Haha!
大家好！我叫王劭侯，來自英國倫敦。我是一名廈大漢語專業(yè)本科生，在中國已三年了。我想與你們分享我的故事，關(guān)于我獨一無二的愛好以及我是如何在中國將它實現(xiàn)的。希望你們對歷史和金屬感興趣，不然你們可以直接刷到下面看好看的照片！
Many people have asked about it, and I can assure you it’s nothing to do with writing emails.?My hobby is making chainmail. Yes, you read that right, real chainmail! Further below I have written about how it’s done, but first I will address a question that all (non-gamer) Chinese are probably are asking: What on Earth is chainmail?
很多人都問過關(guān)于鎖子甲的問題，我可以向你保證這和群發(fā)的垃圾郵件沒有任何關(guān)系。（chain mail在英國指群發(fā)的垃圾郵件）我的愛好是親手制作鎖子甲。是的，你沒看錯，真鎖子甲！我在文章后面，寫下了制作方法，但我先解決非游戲玩家的中國人可能會提出的問題：鎖子甲到底是個啥呢？
The reason that most Chinese people have not heard of chainmail is because historically, China is the only country in the northern hemisphere that did not develop its own chainmail. Even during the Han dynasty this ‘chain link armour’ was known about, and even was imported for military use, serving as a rare and exotic foreign symbol of wealth. This type of armour not only provided effective protection and was comfortable to wear, procuring its materials wasn’t hard at all, hence why it was widely produced. To explain it simply, chainmail is a fabric-like armour made by interlocking metal rings. For us Europeans, just to hear the word likely brings to mind images of medieval knights in the armour.
大部分中國人之所以不知道鎖子甲這種鎧甲，是因為在全北半球歷史中，中國是其中唯一一個沒有發(fā)明自己鎖子甲的國家。連漢朝的人都知道國外這種“鏈子甲”的存在，甚至因為戰(zhàn)爭需要，引進了它，作為一種既奇異又罕見的外國強權(quán)象征。這種鎧甲不但能有效保護身體、穿戴舒服，而且獲取原材料并不難，因此用途很廣。簡單來說，鎖子甲是由互鎖金屬環(huán)制成的類似織物的防身盔甲。我們歐洲人一聽到鎖子甲就會想起中世紀騎士的樣子。
Even though there hasn’t been demand for chainmail armour for a long time, the techniques of making it have definitely not been lost to time. On the contrary, some modern people have revived it and turned it into a distinct art form; using strength to manipulate metal and create exquisite patterns.
盡管鎖子甲已經(jīng)很久沒有需求了，但這項技能并沒有絕跡。反而被一些現(xiàn)代人復(fù)興成一種獨特的沖突美藝術(shù)，人為將金屬打造成精美的圖案。
I am one of those modern people.
這些現(xiàn)代人也包括我。
So I decided to revive it here in China, to strike while the iron’s hot. But! With all my tools still in England, and being unable to go back to bring them here (lest I be forever trapped outside of China), I knew gathering everything and starting from scratch would be a lot of work.
我決定趁熱打鐵，在中國重新開始?？墒?！工具都在英國，還不能親自回國拿（否則回不了中國），我知道重新收集我所需要的東西是個很費工的任務(wù)。
I had to recalculate all the mathematics we chainmaillers rely on. China uses completely different measurements, so the information I used back home was all rendered obsolete!
我把鎖子甲所需的數(shù)字表重新計算了一遍，中國的尺寸都不一樣，國外的用不了。
I bought some steel rods to be made into ‘mandrels’. Now, I just needed to find a carpenter. This occupation actually was very hard to find! I asked my friends, teachers, and even my WeChat moments, until finally I found this incredibly skilled carpenter. He’s far too modest, telling me “I just enjoy making things with wood as a hobby, I’m not very professional”, but just look at his flawless work in making a frame for the ‘mandrels’! Master Jin, I was almost fooled by you until I saw you work with such skill and diligence!
我先買了不銹鋼的棍子，它們要成為我的“心軸”?，F(xiàn)在，我只要尋找一位木匠。這個行業(yè)的行家其實不容易找！我問了我的朋友、老師、甚至朋友圈尋找，終于找到了這位很優(yōu)秀的木匠。他太謙虛了，跟我講“我只是喜歡玩木頭，沒那么專業(yè)?！钡?，看著那么完美的“心軸”架子就知道了。金師傅，我差點就被你騙了，你卻游刃有余嘛！
I scoured all of Xiamen in search of a metalworker to help me. On the last day, in the last place I had on my list, I was refused again. I thought then I had reached the very end of the road. As I was reluctantly getting ready to go home, I thought “This is the final step! Surely I can’t give up now?” and instead, filled with determination, I walked aimlessly hoping to find this needle in a haystack. I did find another shop, a small steel shop which wasn’t on any map, and I interrupted the boss eating lunch with his family and asked…and was rejected again. But this time was different! He knew a friend of a friend who may be able to help me: Master Yang.
我跑遍了廈門的金屬加工商店。最后一天，在最后一家店里我又被拒絕了。我以為已山窮水盡。當我不情愿地準備回家時，腦子里突然冒出一句話：“萬事俱備，只欠東風！”于是，我決定邊走邊大海撈針。我確實找到了另一家商店，一家不在任何地圖上的小鋼鐵店，我打斷了老板和他家人吃午飯，詢問了一番，雖然再次遭到拒絕，不同的是，這一次老板說，他認識一個可能能幫我這個忙的朋友–楊師傅。
In his company building he welded two pieces of metal atop one of his machines, then used his raw brawn to cold bend handles into every rod – even the thickest 9 and 10 millimetre ones, which despite testing his mettle also proved no match for his brute force. He thought nothing about travelling far and wide to find a lathe to drill the necessary holes in the cylindrical steel rods. He has a heart of gold, not only did he use his every resource to help me, but after helping create the perfect ‘mandrels’, he consistently rejects any attempt of mine to pay him for his service!
楊師傅在自己公司的設(shè)備上焊接了兩塊鋼筋，然后用力把每一根手柄彎成桿子，哪怕最粗的9毫米和10毫米的桿。這雖然考驗他的勇氣，但事實證明并不能難倒他。他還不遠千里地找一個有車床的地方打了我需要的孔眼。楊師傅有一副菩薩心腸，他不僅不遺余力地幫助我完成我的“心軸”，而且不收我一分錢！
With everything all set, we can finally make chainmail like a medieval artificer! After passing the steel wire through the eye of the ‘mandrel’, we can rotate the handle and twist the wire into a spring. We then use bolt cutters to cut each ring one-by-one. Finally, the chainmailler can use pliers to arrange and lock these jump rings into any number of elaborate designs – something we actually call a weave.
所有材料都準備好了，咱們終于能像中世紀的技師一樣制作鎖子甲了！金線進入“心軸”上的孔眼之后，我們可以轉(zhuǎn)動把手，將鋼絲擰成彈簧，然后把彈簧一個一個地切成開口環(huán)。最后，可以用鉗子將這些開口環(huán)排列和鎖定成精美的圖案?– 事實上我們稱之為“編織”。
What you see are all made with stainless steel, (much harder to work with compared with the galvy wire I first started with), but you can also use aluminium that has been anodised to give it colour! Here you can see my mum holding her Christmas gift one year: a Welsh flag made of chainmail.
你們看到的產(chǎn)品都是用不銹鋼線來做的，（比我先玩的鍍鋅鋼筋絲可難多了），但是你們也可以使用陽極氧化的彩色鋁線來制作！這張照片里可以看到，我的媽媽拿著她的圣誕節(jié)禮物：一面鎖子甲的威爾士的國旗。
I didn’t imagine it would be so much work, it honestly took about three months and it still hasn’t finished – but it’s been totally worth it! Largely because of these two admirable craftsmen I have completed my set up. They did not allow me to falter in ‘taking up this gauntlet’, and thus nestled in a small corner of modern Xiamen is the beating heart of an almost lost medieval skill: making chainmail.
我沒想到會有這么多工序。說實話，花了大約三個月的時間，仍然沒有完成—但它完全值得！大概是因為這兩位令人敬佩的工匠，我完成了我的愛好。他們不讓我“丟盔棄甲”，因為在現(xiàn)代廈門的一個小角落里，有一顆為幾乎已經(jīng)失傳的中世紀技藝而跳動的脈搏:?制作鎖子甲。
P.S. Last year’s story I talked about Teacher Huang’s disability centre that he set up himself in Xiamen’s Tongan district. In the future I want to try selling some of the chainmail things I can make whilst simultaneously supporting his project. If you want to help too, feel free to contact me! I hope everyone, wherever you are, is able to find local meaningful projects to apply themselves to.
P．S．去年的故事我講到了黃老師自己建立的同安區(qū)殘疾人中心。我未來想試一試售賣自己制作的鎖子甲產(chǎn)品，同時支持他的項目。如果你也想幫忙，請隨時聯(lián)系我！我希望每個人，無論你在哪里，都能夠找到當?shù)赜幸饬x的項目，投入其中。
