Fengyukou Old Oil Mill is located in the west of Fengyukou Village under the jurisdiction of Luanzhen Street Office, Chang'an District. It was founded in the 13th year of Emperor Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1887). According to the appraisal of the degree of wear and tear of the earthen wall, foundation and oil beam of the oil mill by the cultural relics department, it is believed that it has a history of more than 120 years. It is the largest, oldest and most complete existing manual oil pressing workshop in the northwest region. Its oil pressing method continues the vertical oil pressing method of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (most of the ancient oil pressing techniques in my country are horizontal), using river water as power and lever principle. There are more than 30 processes from collecting raw materials, grinding embryos, steaming embryos, packing, pressing, and precipitating into oil. The squeezed oil is pure, bright in color and good in taste, which can be called the "living fossil" of folk manual oil pressing skills. In the 13th year of Emperor Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1887), Mr. Qi Yili from Doumen Town, who had returned from studying in Japan, chose the north bank of the Feng River at the foot of Fenghuang Mountain at the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains, and established the "Northwest Spinning Bureau" here, focusing on spinning and supplemented by oil pressing. The old oil mill was said to be a product of the Westernization Movement at that time. Qi Yili attached great importance to technological innovation. The steps and processes of oil pressing were very strict. He used the water of the Feng River as power and operated by the principle of levers, which greatly improved the efficiency of oil pressing. Later, because the profit of oil pressing was much greater than that of spinning, it was changed to focusing on oil pressing and supplemented by spinning. After Qi Yili's death, the oil mill was continued to be operated by Zhang Beiliang, Dong Zhenyou and others. In 1959, the public-private partnership was established, and the old oil mill was changed to a collective enterprise with 9 people and 16,000 yuan of funds, and its name was changed to Luancun People's Commune Oil Processing Factory. After the reform and opening up, the old oil mill was contracted by the current operator, Master Gao Rangrang, and renamed Fengyukou Old Oil Mill, which has been in operation ever since. The oil pressing technique has been passed down through four generations. 1. Collecting raw materials 1. Material selection: When choosing rapeseed, "it is better to choose new rather than old". The new rapeseed grown on loess is the best, and the oil squeezed out is bright in color, pure in quality, and has a good taste. 2. Drying: Drying is a very critical process, and the best rapeseed is in loose flakes. Too wet or too dry is not advisable. If it is oily, it cannot be used. 3. Dust and impurities: Use a fan wheel (a traditional agricultural tool handed down from the past) to remove dust first, and then use sieves, dustpans and other tools to remove impurities (sand, soil, materials, shells). 2. Grinding embryos 1. Pour the selected rapeseed into the bullfight of the stone mill (there are many kinds of stone mills, different mills are used according to different raw materials, and the toothed stone mill is used to grind rapeseed), start the stone mill (the stone mill is driven by a water wheel, also called a water mill), and put bamboo sticks in the bucket to adjust the speed of the stone mill feeding. The rapeseed should be ground into mud, the finer the better. 2. Identify the dryness and humidity of the ground embryos. An experienced chef will grab the embryos by hand. The embryos are in a ball shape and have a sense of expansion. They should not be too dry or too wet. 3. Prepare a large pot for steaming embryos. Add water to one-third of the pot height. Boil the water. Sprinkle the ground embryos on the steamer along the edge of the pot with a shovel to cover the steam coming out of the gaps. Sprinkle the embryos wherever there is steam until the embryos are evenly placed. After the steam comes up evenly, cover the prepared oil grass in order. During the covering process, put the rope on the oil grass on the edge of the pot to facilitate the removal of the grass after steaming, so as not to burn your hands. Steam with high heat for 40-60 minutes from the time of covering the grass. Generally, 360-420 kilograms of embryos can be steamed at a time. 4. Wrap the buns. Straighten the steamed oil grass, embed it into the oil ring, put the steamed rapeseed embryos into it, tamp it with a "wooden crutch" (a hammer-shaped tool made of hard miscellaneous wood), and wrap the upper part of the rapeseed embryos tightly with the oil grass and step on it firmly. 5. Oil pressing: Lift the oil beam with a pulley, stack the wrapped oil lumps and put them into the oil well. Put four lumps in for the first time, remove the rings on the top and bottom two lumps, put the remaining two rings at the average position of the total height, fix them with four columns, put a cover plate on the top, put a bracket on the cover plate (i.e. the fulcrum of the oil beam), gradually loosen the pulley, and pressurize the oil beam. The process of use should be "tightly wrap the lumps and use the beam slowly". Take out the pressed lumps, crush them, and press them again. After two presses, the oil in the lumps can be basically squeezed out. 6. Oil production: The squeezed oil flows into the oil cylinder through the stone trough under the oil lumps. After filtering and settling the oil for 15-30 days (long in winter and short in summer), the impurities are separated from the oil and can be sold. In addition, there are two auxiliary processes in the oil pressing process that are also very important: one is to make oil grass. In the process of oil pressing, oil grass is one of the most important tools. During the reign of Emperor Guangxu, dragon beard grass from the Qinling Mountains was used. In the early days of the people's commune, cattail grass was used, and later straw was used. The selected grass must be 100-120 cm tall and must not be moldy or rotten. After that, the selected grass is dried and leaves are removed, and tied into small bundles with a diameter of about 30 cm using "pig's hoof buckles" (a traditional way of tying, which will make the bundles tighter and tighter), and the roots are cut into oval shapes. Then the grass is "burned", first the roots of the bundle are put into boiling water, and then the whole bundle is soaked for about 1 minute. Let it dry until it is half dry, and after cooling, the pig's hoof buckles are tightened again, with a tension of about 1 ton. Finally, rinse and dry. The second is to make oil rings. The oil rings are made of bamboo skin, with a diameter of 50 cm and a height of 10 cm, and the center bulges outward. In May 2009, the oil pressing technique of the old oil mill in Fengyukou, Chang'an was selected into the second batch of representative works of intangible cultural heritage in Xi'an. In June 2009, the oil pressing technique of the old oil mill in Fengyukou, Chang'an was selected into the second batch of intangible cultural heritage list of Shaanxi Province. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)