Jinxi is an ancient water town in the south of Kunshan, Suzhou. The brick-making industry in Jinxi began in the early Ming Dynasty and reached its peak in the Qing Dynasty. Jinxi has been known as the "Seventy-two Kilns" since ancient times. Most of its kilns are lime kilns, and most of them are civilian kilns. Brick and tile production is very prosperous. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Suzhou's brick and tile production was most famous in Lumu and Xuzhuang. Most of the fine square bricks used in the main halls of the imperial palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the official bricks used by the Ministry of Industry came from these two places. Jinxi's brick and tile production followed closely. In the late Qing Dynasty, Jinxi's brick and tile manufacturing actually surpassed Lumu and Xuzhuang. In the 1960s, some production teams in Zhubang, Mingdong, Weixing, Zhudian, Nanzhuang, Gujiabang, Yuandian and other brigades gradually resumed brick and tile production using the original old kilns to burn blue bricks and small tiles. In the 1980s, with the rapid development of township enterprises, eight brick and tile factories appeared in Jinxi Town, including Brick and Tile Factory 1, Factory 2, Factory 3, Factory 4, Duifangqiao Kiln Factory, Qipandang Kiln Factory, Zhoujiabang Kiln Factory, and Xiagang Kiln Factory. Zhubang, Zhudian, and Mingdong villages were once called "kiln towns" because of the large number of kilns. After the 1990s, the rural areas also had a "standing kiln" with simple structure, quick results, and high output for burning red bricks, which once again brought the local brick and tile production to a peak and occupied the brick and tile market in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai. There are many kinds of ancient bricks and tiles produced in Jinxi, including tough and beautiful square bricks, eight-knot ecliptic bricks, butterfly bricks, flower window bricks, longevity bricks, etc. There are also many kinds of tiles, including tiles laid on the eaves, chiwen on the ridge, tubular tiles, dragon and phoenix tiles, and stilt tiles. In the early 1960s, hollow floor bricks were trial-produced, and then the main products were "three-hole bricks", "twenty-hole bricks" and "foreign tiles". The "prestressed hollow floor bricks" and "load-bearing hollow bricks" produced in the 1970s won the National Science and Technology Conference Award. After the 1980s, Bi Songkang's Ancient Building Materials Co., Ltd. achieved great success in the research and imitation of ancient bricks and tiles. The tubular tiles, plate tiles, wang bricks, cucumber rings, etc. produced by it were exported to Shanghai, Kunming, Singapore, Japan and other places. After the 1990s, Ding Weijian, who has been producing antique bricks and tiles, made gold bricks with "kingly style", making the ancient gold bricks "golden and magnificent" again. At present, Ding Weijian's ceramic antique brick and tile factory mainly produces 1.5 million pieces of tubular tiles and 150,000 square bricks (including gold bricks) annually. The production of ancient bricks and tiles requires a series of processes such as soil selection, weathering, drying, foaming, stirring, sedimentation, stepping on soil, blank making, and firing. The production cycle takes about one year. Ancient bricks and tiles are tough, beautiful, have no pores, are hard and wear-resistant, and are mostly used in important antique buildings. Because the water in Suzhou is particularly clear and soft, the soil nourished by this soft water is also particularly sticky and soft. The bricks and tiles fired with this soft and delicate soil are also of excellent quality. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, they have been favored by emperors of all dynasties and have become a special product for palace construction. "Golden bricks" are fired with yellow mud, but their status is comparable to gold. The "golden bricks" laid on the ground are as smooth as a mirror, dark green in color, noble and elegant, and antique.