Dough Figurines
01 · Historical Records
Dough modeling originated from steamed flour offerings used in ancient sacrifices and seasonal festivals. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, itinerant artists modeled figures from opera stories and hawked them in the streets, and dough figurines gradually became common folk playthings. The Shanghai Zhao School of dough figurines was founded by Zhao Kuoming (1900–1980), who was long known as the “King of Dough Figurines”.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Dough figurines, also called “miansu” (dough modeling) or “jiangmiren” (glutinous rice figures), are a traditional plastic art that uses edible wheat flour and glutinous rice flour as its main materials. Popular throughout China, they are deeply loved by the people. Dough figurines mostly take animals and figures from mythology and legend, historical stories, and local opera as their subjects, and the two basic forms are the “qianjushi” (stick-held) type and the “anzhishi” (table-display) type. The former are mostly edible playthings for entertaining children, with simple but lively forms; the latter are refined display artworks, meticulously made and exquisitely modeled, and additives must be mixed into the raw materials to guard against cracking, insects, and mildew. Dough figurine making generally begins by using pinching, rolling, kneading, and pressing gestures to shape the overall form; a bamboo knife is then used deftly to dot, cut, carve, and score such local details as the hands and feet, the head and face, and the expression. Finally, hair ornaments, garments, and related attachments are added, and the work is complete. Dough figurine art relies mainly on the improvisation of itinerant artists who wander the streets. Having mastered skilled modeling techniques and keeping the process conventions of subject, form, and coloring firmly in mind, they can turn a ball of dough into a vivid, radiant artistic image in a moment. The Shanghai Zhao School of dough figurine technique is an outstanding representative of Haipai (Shanghai-style) dough modeling, founded by Zhao Kuoming (1900–1980), who enjoyed the reputation of “King of Dough Figurines”. It is mainly transmitted in the Shanghai area, but in the course of its development it gradually formed a broad influence extending beyond Shanghai alone. On the basis of inheriting earlier techniques, Zhao Kuoming summarized and codified the “eight hand-pinching methods” and “eight tool methods” of dough modeling, greatly enriching the expressive power of the art and especially strengthening the depiction of figures’ features and the texture of objects. The works of the Shanghai Zhao School feature numerous figures, grand scenes, lifelike modeling, finely rendered expressions, richly textured images, and light, flowing garment ornaments, displaying distinctive Haipai cultural characteristics. Zhao Kuoming’s creative efforts strengthened the refinement tendency of dough figurine art, developing it from a common folk plaything into an exquisite art reflecting the aesthetic tastes of a modern city. The Zhao School’s works cover a rich range of subjects; representative works such as Second Entry into the Palace, Guan Yu Reading at Night, National Unity, and Great Wall of Friendship have become models of dough figurine art. In order to survive in the modern market environment, dough modeling production often pursues speed and simplicity, with crude and slipshod workmanship, so that the exquisite, meticulous artistic character of the Zhao School can no longer be maintained. If this continues, this exquisite technique will lose its original charm and decline into extinction in obscurity.
Eight hand methods and eight tool methods
Zhao Kuoming codified the eight hand methods and eight tool methods of dough modelling, greatly strengthening the rendering of facial likeness and texture.
Stick-held and desk types
Dough figures come in two basic forms: the stick-held type sold to children, and the refined desk type treated against cracking, insects and mould.
Er Jin Gong and Guan Gong Reading at Night
Representative works include Er Jin Gong, Guan Gong Reading at Night, Great Unity of Nationalities and Great Wall of Friendship.
Zhao Yanlin and school teaching
The inheritor Zhao Yanlin, born in Shanghai in 1941, has taught dough modelling in youth palaces and schools since 1960.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Shanghai Zhao School takes the urban districts of Shanghai as its center of transmission, standing alongside the Shandong Li School, the Beijing Tang School and Lang School, and other dough figurine schools; the influence of Haipai dough modeling is not limited to Shanghai alone.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Dough Figurines · Dough Figurines · Dough Figurines · Dough Figurines · Dough Figurines.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Dough figurine art, inherited and developed among the people, embodies the aesthetic sentiments and life ideals of the general public, and provides important material evidence for research on Chinese folk history, customs, and art. At present, the development of Haipai dough modeling, represented by the Zhao School, has fallen into difficulty, and the aging of its practitioners is very serious. Protecting and transmitting the art of the Shanghai Zhao School has become an urgent task requiring the joint efforts of all concerned parties. Zhao Yanlin (recorded in the official files of the associated inheritor): Female, of Han ethnicity, born in May 1941, from Shanghai. Arts and crafts artist. From 1960 onward she was successively engaged by children’s palaces in various districts and by universities, middle schools, and primary schools to popularize and teach dough modeling techniques. Her representative works include Three Strikes Against the White Bone Demon and A Heavenly Maiden Scatters Flowers, as well as the large-scale dough-modeling series Ancient Chinese Football and Immortals Offering Birthday Greetings. Representative inheritor of Mianren (Shanghai Mianren Zhao), a third-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Lang Zhili 03-1268
- Zhao Yanlin 03-1269
- Li Jincheng 03-1270
- Tang Suguo 04-1795
- Chen Sujing 05-2647
- Wang Xijin 05-2648
- Wang Di
- Chen Yu
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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