Though it was on the brink of dying out just a few decades ago, the tradition of sculpting icons for Mid-Autumn Festival is coming back, Kuang Linhua reports
In a small courtyard in eastern Beijing's Tongzhou district, Hu Pengfei guides several craftsmen in his workshop as they paint colors onto clay sculptures of the rabbit god, a traditional Beijing folk icon. This is a typical scene at the Lucky Rabbit Workshop every year before Mid-Autumn Festival. With a rabbit's head and a human's body, the rabbit god is local to the Chinese capital. It was a traditional folk custom logo of the festival in old Beijing.
 |
| Carrying their rabbit god clay sculptures, the Lucky Rabbit Workshop staff arrive at Dongyue Temple in Beijing's Dongcheng district on Sept 8 to prepare for this year's Mid-Autumn Festival temple fair. photos by Kuang Linhua / china daily |
Legend has it that there was an epidemic in the city long ago. The Moon Goddess sent her white rabbit to earth to treat the disease. People began to worship him after that, and the white rabbit is revered as the patron god of Beijing.
Hu Pengfei is the founder and head of the workshop. He said the process of making a clay rabbit figurine involves more than a dozen procedures and takes a whole week.
 |
| Jia Tao, a 28-year-old craftsman from the workshop, checks if the semi-finished clay rabbit god sculptures are dry enough before moving on to further procedures. Air-drying is an important step for making the sculptures. |
We recommend:
Special Coverage:
Print
Save