Little Things in Old Beijing(4)

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Little Things in Old Beijing(4)

Making art from dough

According to a Chinese fairy tale, humans were created out of clay by a goddess.

In the hands of the folk artists, this myth is repeated over and over as the otherwise worthless clay is molded into fascinating sculptures via kneading, basking, coloring and baking.

They look like glittering, translucent flying fairies, or beauties with shining kites, but these handicrafts are not made from precious jade, ivory or coral.

They are made from an edible material- common dough. It sounds unbelievable, but it's true; it's an old, magical Chinese folk art. The dough has the characters of high plasticity. Craftsmen combine fermented flour or rice powder with colored dyes, preservatives, paraffin, honey and glutinous rice powder, steam the mixture, then sculpt the dough into figurines of animals, people, flowers and plants.

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