Luo Zhaoying

01 · Lineage & Regional School

At fifteen he learned the craft from his father, and in 1953 he studied the making of Tianmen sugar figures under Wang Peilin; he once travelled and practised his craft in twelve provinces and municipalities across the country. Within the regional tradition and school record of Sugar Sculpture in Tianmen, Hubei: Tianmen sugar-sculpture artists are concentrated in the urban center of Tianmen and in the riverside market towns of Yuekou, Zaoshi, and Qianyi; in former times they mostly set up performance stalls at temple fairs, market days, and wedding or birthday celebrations. When blowing and shaping, the malt sugar is kept warm over a charcoal brazier; the artist blows air into the sugar blank through a bamboo tube while pinching and pulling with both hands, and the piece takes shape within tens of seconds. Large pieces require two people working together, one blowing and one modeling. Tianmen lies on the Jianghan Plain and was long a key hub for land and water transport; its town markets and temple fairs flourished, and sugar-sculpture artists mostly traveled with opera troupes and temple fairs, setting up roadside stalls to blow and shape their wares on the spot for sale. Artists competed with one another on their two skills of "blowing" and "modeling", and over time a complete set of trade jargon and practices took form, including "large pieces" (da wan yi), "head work" (tou zi huo), and "hollow work" (pao huo).

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, of the Han ethnic group, born in February 1932 in Tianmen City, Hubei Province. His skills are superb: he can both blow and model sugar, is thoroughly familiar with more than a hundred subjects, and is especially adept at capturing human expression. The sugar figures he models mostly depict folk legends and everyday customs; the forms are full, the detail rich, the colours bright and the linework crisp, and with the addition of decorative sequins the human and animal figures become all the more lifelike. Representative works include Two Lions Contending for the Embroidered Ball, Kui Xing Tipping the Dipper, the Taibao Lion and Jiang Taigong Fishing. He has taken part many times in cultural exchange activities and sugar sculpture exhibitions organised by provincial and municipal cultural departments. Within the documented technical tradition of Sugar Sculpture in Tianmen, Hubei: Sugar sculpture is a distinctive category of traditional Chinese folk modeling art, one that primarily exploits the plasticity of sugar to shape it into forms. Unlike Western sculpture, Chinese folk modeling incorporates rich formative elements such as painting, sculpture, carving, seal-engraving, and decoration, reflecting more strongly the aesthetic inclinations and technical character of its own tradition. Sugar sculpture generally uses malt syrup and corn sugar — the malt syrup being colloquially known as "tang xi" (sugar syrup) — as its raw materials, and completes its pieces through a combination of shaping techniques: pinching, piling, pasting, cutting, blowing, rubbing, pulling, pressing, pouring, and stretching, together with decorative methods such as painting, dyeing, carving, scratching, dotting, poking, stamping, inserting, and attaching. Sugar-sculpture pieces can be appreciated and played with, and can also be eaten directly. In Chinese folk life, sugar sculpture is found throughout the north and the south, with a broad popular base, and is closely bound up with everyday customs. Tianmen sugar sculpture, colloquially known as "blowing sugar figures" (chui tang ren), is a folk sculptural art popular in the area of Tianmen City, Hubei Province. It evolved from the sacrificial "sugar offerings" (tang gong) recorded in Tang- and Song-era classical texts; it has a long history and a rich accumulation of secular cultural content. The "large pieces" (da wan yi) of Tianmen sugar sculpture, such as Dragon-and-Phoenix Candles and the Three Stars of Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity, still preserve the basic form of the sugar offering as used in sacrificial rites, birthday celebrations, and wedding ceremonies, providing important physical evidence for the study of traditional sacrificial customs. Tianmen sugar sculpture uses specially boiled and processed malt sugar as its raw material and shapes its images through "blowing" and "modeling" techniques distinct from those of sugar painting; its forms are exaggerated and full, its colors bright and warm, and its traditional subjects are mainly human figures and animals, flowers, birds, fish, and insects, carrying the auspicious meanings of inviting fortune and averting misfortune. Sugar-sculpture artists skillfully use "hollow work" (pao huo) to expand the volume of a piece, "head work" (tou zi huo) to enrich its details, and springs to connect components so as to create a delightful sense of movement; these ingenious artistic devices fully display the aesthetic taste and creative wisdom of the folk. As the times have advanced, social life has undergone enormous change, and under these conditions Tianmen sugar sculpture has gradually declined, its technique steadily deteriorating. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Bubble work and head work": Makers swell the body with hollow work, enrich detail with head work and join parts by springs to set them quivering. "Dragon-phoenix candles and the three star gods": The 'big pieces' of Tianmen sugar sculpture keep the basic form of ritual sugar offerings at sacrifices, birthdays and weddings. "From ritual sugar offerings": The craft evolved from the sugar offerings recorded in Tang and Song texts, later turning from the altar to popular entertainment. "Specially boiled maltose": Its material is a specially boiled maltose worked hot, for once cool it turns brittle and snaps.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He is a representative bearer of sugar sculpture (Tianmen sugar sculpture), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Luo Zhaoying · National Representative Bearer Archive