Born in 1985, Hu Xuchun has been modeling dough for almost 15 years and is skilled at creating an assortment of characters ranging from historical legends to cartoon heroes.
As a national-level intangible cultural heritage, dough modeling mainly involves making dough from flour combining with pigments, with craftspeople using gadgets to shape the dough into various characters.
As an ancient art, dough modeling is imbedded with history, folklore, sculpture, archaeology, and aesthetics, and is recognized as a unique cultural heritage in Shanxi province.
Scores of dough figurines created by Hu are currently on display at the First Shanxi Art Festival, showcasing the charms of traditional folk art.
“When I was a cook, I liked making dough-related dishes. Later, I studied the materials and designs for creating dough characters,” said Hu.
Hu also researched and developed a special flour that can solve the problems of cracking and mildewing, guaranteeing a longer shelf life.
Shanxi Vocational College of Art is one of the few colleges in China that offers a curriculum based on dough modeling, said Hu.
“Since becoming an instructor for dough modeling, my students and I learn from each other to study this traditional art. Young people are full of passion and energy; sometimes I can gain a lot of inspiration from them,” Hu added.
Hu also often goes to local kindergartens and primary schools to teach young children, and even some foreigners have learned from him.
His handicrafts have been exhibited in foreign countries, including the United States, Russia and Sri Lanka.
Hu hopes that dough modeling can be introduced to some schools for the deaf, which will help develop the folk art and also provide children at the schools with useful skills for the future.
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| Hu Xuchun creates figurines at his workshop in Taiyuan, Shanxi province on Sept 6. [Photo/sxgov.cn] |
