About a year back, I was in Silver City buying a pair of scissors for my mum. Choosing among about seven different brands, I was taken with one called "Chang Siow Chuen". "Chang" is as in a "piece" of paper. "Siow" means small. "Chuen" means spring or brook.
During my visit to HanChow, where the famous West Lake is, I heard a true story from my local tour guide. Many, many years ago, an Emperor came to the south of the great river. He went up to have green tea in a tea house on a hill next to the famous West Lake. As he was enjoying his cup, the sky turned dark. He left on a sedan chair. But, alas, as he reached the bottom of the hill, it started to pour. Well, even the Emperor could not control the weather. Hence he sheltered beneath the nearest roofed entry way of a civilian's house. Fifteen minutes after the rain started, it grew heavier. The Emperor decided not to twiddle his thumb anymore but to walk into this man's shop to see what he made.
It was a cottage industry making scissors. While waiting out the rain, he tried quite a few pairs and bought one pair to take back to the forbidden city. The following year, he was so delighted with this "Chang Siow Chuen" scissors that he solemnly declared this brand the imperial brand which would supply him all his palace needs.
Imagine, it must have been hundreds of years later now, this same brand is still being in production and it is sold thousands of miles away from China. There must be something about its design or quality, otherwise I would not have chosen it in a hardware store among many brands.
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