Clay Sculpture
01 · Historical Records
The origin of the Beijing Lord Rabbit is traditionally said to be closely linked with the Mid-Autumn Festival custom of worshipping the moon. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Jade Rabbit gradually acquired an independent image within the worship of the moon.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Beijing Lord Rabbit is a traditional folk painted clay sculpture with the image of a rabbit's head on a human body, and also a representative seasonal article for the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival, distributed across Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei Province, Shandong Province, and elsewhere, with the Beijing area being the representative. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival of reunion, and its celebrations are elaborate. In former times, as each Mid-Autumn Festival approached, Lord Rabbit stalls gradually appeared in the streets, with large and small figures arranged on the stands into "mountains of Lord Rabbit," adding to the joyful festive atmosphere. The Beijing Lord Rabbit uses clay for its body and is covered with painted decoration: a rabbit's head on a human body, a solemn and dignified expression, dressed in the red robe of the bodhisattva Weituo (Skanda), with a single pennant carried on the back, wearing a golden helmet and golden armor in the full costume of a military general, and holding a medicine-pounding pestle. There are also forms riding animals such as an elephant, qilin, tiger, lion, or deer, or sitting atop a mountain; the different mounts represent different auspicious meanings. The raw material for making Lord Rabbit is gum clay, which must go through processes such as sun-drying, cooling, pounding, and kneading, the artist shaping it by hand with techniques such as rolling, kneading, picking, pinching, stamping, patting, cutting, coloring, pasting, and inserting. Lord Rabbit works emphasize symmetry and balance; their painted decoration is finely executed, and there is a traditional saying of "three parts modeling, seven parts painting," with strong color contrasts that are archaic and rich. After the ritual offerings are concluded, children treat the Lord Rabbit figures as everyday toys. In addition, because medical conditions were backward in former times, a mascot modeled on the medicine-pounding Jade Rabbit came into being. Legend has it that in a certain year an epidemic broke out in the city of Beijing and the people could not bear the suffering; the Jade Rabbit at Chang'e's side descended to the mortal world to practice medicine and aid the age, finally collapsing in exhaustion beneath a flagpole in front of a temple. Later the clay-sculpted image of Lord Rabbit appeared among the people. This project contains rich folk-custom content, embodies the idea of the unity of heaven and humanity, and expresses the beautiful wishes for family reunion, peace, and health. Its finished products are both important articles for Beijing's Mid-Autumn Festival customs and beloved toy ornaments for children, serving social and cultural functions such as harmonizing the community, enhancing the festive atmosphere, beautifying life, and educating the people.
Hare head, human body, red robe
A clay-painted hare-headed figure in the red robe of Weituo, armoured, carrying the pestle, mounted on elephant, qilin, tiger, lion or deer with differing auspicious meanings.
The mountain of rabbit lords
Before the Mid-Autumn festival stalls appeared in the streets, their shelves piled into a “mountain” of figures that children played with after the rites.
The hare who came down to heal
Legend tells of a plague in Beijing and the moon hare descending to heal the sick until it collapsed by a temple flagpole, giving rise to the image.
Shuang Yan's auspicious pieces
The Manchu inheritor Shuang Yan, born 1958, is the fourth-generation master, known for bold, symmetrical forms and strong colour contrast.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Lord Rabbit is represented by the Beijing area and distributed across Tianjin, Hebei Province, Shandong Province, and elsewhere. In former times, on the eve of Mid-Autumn, stalls selling Lord Rabbit were successively set up in the capital's streets and markets; after the festival the figures became children's everyday toys. The clay body is hand-shaped from gum clay after sun-drying, cooling, pounding, and kneading, and the painting follows the principle of "three parts modeling, seven parts painting." The Beijing Lord Rabbit relies mainly on master-apprentice and family transmission; the Manchu artist Shuang Yan is a fourth-generation inheritor who, since 2000, has taken on apprentices and taught the art, and his works have participated many times in Chinese and foreign folk culture and art exchanges.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Clay Sculpture · Clay Sculpture · Clay Sculpture · Clay Sculpture · Clay Sculpture · Clay Sculpture · Clay Sculpture · Clay Sculpture · Clay Sculpture · Clay Sculpture · Clay Sculpture · Clay Sculpture · Clay Sculpture · Clay Sculpture.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Beijing Lord Rabbit relies on master-apprentice and family transmission. Shuang Yan (as recorded in the official inheritor archive): Male, Manchu ethnicity, born in April 1958, from Beijing. He is a Beijing folk-craft master and a fourth-generation inheritor of the Beijing Lord Rabbit. His skill is consummate and exquisite; his expressive technique is exaggerated, his forms simple yet vivid and attentive to symmetry, his color contrasts strong; he has inherited and carried forward the technical characteristics and artistic style of Beijing's traditional folk painted clay sculpture. He has participated many times in Chinese and foreign folk culture and art exchanges, and many of his works are collected by national museums and art galleries in China and abroad. His representative works include "Bringing Blessings Home" and "Abundance Year After Year." Since 2000 he has taken on apprentices and taught the art, dedicating himself to the transmission of the Beijing Lord Rabbit painted-sculpture art. He is a representative inheritor of Clay Sculpture (Beijing Lord Rabbit), a national-level intangible cultural heritage project of the fifth batch.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yu Xianglian 01-0108
- Wang Nanxian 01-0109
- Hu Shen 01-0110
- Wang Xuefeng 01-0111
- Wu Yucheng 03-1251
- Wu Guangrang 03-1252
- Xu Xingguo 03-1253
- Yang Qihe 03-1254
- Nie Xiwei 04-1791
- Shuangyan 05-2622
- Zhu Wenqian 05-2623
- Xu Shuzhang 05-2624
- Wu Weiqing 05-2625
- Wang Dengshu 05-2626
- Hu Xinming 05-2627
- Yang Jianian 05-2628
- Liu Chengyin
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。