He Kaiying was the fourth generation heir to the brand. Starting as an apprentice in 1980, he has been working at the store for twenty eight years. He recalled his first three years, learning the craft. He sat next to his teacher imitating what he saw, getting the gist of the craft, working with dedication. Even today he says, the most demanding skill is the crafting of cloth-soled "Thousand Layer Shoes".
The cloth-soled "Thousand Layer Shoe" is not precisely a thousand layers, but the name describes shoes made in multiple layers under a strict technique. There are more than thirty intricate procedures among the more than one hundred steps to make a pair of shoes. Each procedure is strictly set out.
Some patrons of Nei Lian Sheng's cloth shoes are foreigners. Twenty-four year old American guy Sima Wei came to China for six months. But he's had a strong interest in Chinese culture for a long time.
Over the one hundred and fifty years of its history, Nei Lian Sheng has produced three thousand types of shoes. The range goes from male and female cloth shoes, children's shoes, slippers, and handmade leather shoes. The vintage brand is a testimony to old Beijing, and what can still endure, amid the changing lifestyles of Beijing's people.
(CCTV September 8, 2008)
