AS we enter into February, we can sense that the festive spirit of the Chinese New Year is pervading in Shenzhen. Amidst the bustling city, the pious pursuit and hard work of many inheritors of forms of intangible cultural heritage may have gone unnoticed.

    However, more than 100 inheritors will stay in Shenzhen to provide performances of their unique artisanship to enrich the New Year holiday for the citizens, according to Shenzhen Evening News. This is not merely an artistic gathering, but a kick-off of the exploration and discussion in reserving, integrating, and developing traditional heritage in the context of the modern city.

    Zhang Minzhong, a 50-year-old artist, owns an old store in the Shuitian community of Bao’an District. He makes dough figurines using glutinous rice flour and colorings.

    The art of making dough figurines can be traced back to the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.-A.D. 220), with a history of more than 2,000 years. People use dough figurines as gifts and offerings during festive occasions such as birthdays, weddings, and ancestor worship.

    Zhang was born in Heze City of Shandong Province. When he was 7 years old, his grandfather passed on the art of making dough figurines to him. In his young age, Zhang enjoyed reading folklore and classics like “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” and “Outlaws of the Marsh,” thereby inspiring many of his artworks.

    In addition to folk tale characters, Zhang makes figurines of cartoons and zodiacs. When the reporter met Zhang on Feb. 1, Zhang presented a “Fu Niu” (“Ox of Blessing”) dough figurine made to celebrate the coming Year of the Ox.

    Zhang is now a representative of dough figurine inheritors in Shenzhen’s Nanshan District. He came to Shenzhen in 2002 when he was 31 years old, bringing with him the love for dough figurines. When he first came to Shenzhen, he used to set up temporary stalls from street to street. Unfortunately, the humid climate in Shenzhen added more challenges for this new comer, causing the dough to decay easily. Only after repeated studies and experiments, he uncovered the techniques to preserve the dough figurines in such humidity for a long period of time.

    In the past 20 years, Zhang strived to promote dough figurines through intangible cultural heritage projects by visiting middle schools and elementary schools. He taught students how to make dough figurines, incorporating modern characters and elements of Shenzhen. 

    Zhang aspires to keep a record of Shenzhen stories through his artisanship. He has a rather busy schedule for this coming Chinese New Year. He plans to make dough figurines on site in malls and communities to promote this ancient art form in the light of the modern Shenzhen City.

    Another artist, Tian Xing, who lives in the Meilin Community of Futian District, is an inheritor of paper-cutting. During the reporter’s visit, Tian quickly turned a piece of colored paper into a delicate piece of Ox-year-themed art work, with just a pencil and a pair of scissors.

    Tian was born in Yijun County of Shaanxi Province, which was home to the art of folk painting. She started learning paper-cutting from her family when she was 6 years old. As Tian recalled, the 28th day of the 12th lunar month was a big day for the women in the village – they would all gather on a heated brick bed to make paper-cuttings. She made a proud remark that the Shaanxi culture has cultivated ingenuity. Paper-cutting means a lot to Tian. It creates festive decorations symbolizing hope, and is a cultural heritage.

    The history of paper-cutting goes back more than 2,000 years. Starting in the Han Dynasty, women cut colored silk into shapes of flowers and birds to adorn their temples. In the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the custom of paper-cutting was practiced to celebrate the arrival of the spring season. On the first day of spring, people cut paper into flowers, butterflies, and various shapes of ornaments. Some used them as accessories, and some used them as decorations for potted plants and flowers.

    In 1991, Tian was employed by the Splendid China•China Folk Culture Villages to continue the study and practice of paper-cutting. She brought from Shaanxi “Tian’s paper-cutting,” which became a school that incorporates the art forms of the North and the South.

    After moving to Shenzhen, Tian has made a number of attempts to bridge the paper-cutting tradition and the city’s innovative culture. She focused on exploring local subjects while integrating the principles of Western painting and sculpture. Over the span of more than 20 years, Tian has successfully brought the art of paper-cutting into schools and communities in Shenzhen by teaching more than 10,000 students.

    During the Chinese New Year celebration, Tian will be staying in Shenzhen to present the art of paper-cutting in the Splendid China•China Folk Culture Villages. She is one of the many inheritors of intangible cultural heritage who will remain in Shenzhen. These artists all share the common desire that the ancient folk arts will flourish again by making a reentry into the public during the festival.  

    (Zee Wong)