Chinese Dolls Tell Chinese Stories

FROM February 9-17 thisyear， nine festive activitiescentered on the ChineseSpring Festival， whichincluded art performances， intangiblecultural heritage exhibitions，and tourism promotion，were staged one after another inTrafalgar Square in London， theAssembly Rooms in Edinburgh，and a museum in Ireland’s Dublin.Audiences were captivated by thecharm of Chinese culture exhibitedthrough the festive atmosphereof the Chinese Spring Festival. Atthe activities， Beijing silk figurines，known in China as juanren ，attracted the attention of manypeople.

Back to China. In ZhangjiawanTown of Beijing’s eastern districtof Tongzhou， there is a Tang RenFang Art of Dolls Museum whichhas on exhibit various kinds of silk"figurines. Visitors can see delicatesilk figurines that are modeled aftervarious classic images， such asthe Flying Apsaras of Dunhuang，the Eight Immortals Crossing theSea， the Four Beauties in ChineseHistory， the Twelve Beauties ofJinling （ former name of Nanjing），and Mi Yue， a powerful female politicianfrom the Qin state duringthe Warring States period （475-221B.C.）.

Visitors to the museum are"immediately impressed with theornate handicrafts as well as thetraditional skills that were usedto make them， which have beenrecognized as national intangiblecultural heritage.

Tang Yan， founder of the museum，is also an inheritor of theBeijing juanren craft and chairmanof Beijing Tang Ren Fang CultureDevelopment Co.， Ltd. Over theyears， she has found an innovativepath to integrate economic development into the protection andinheriting of intangible culturalheritage.

From Interest to Mission

When American Barbie dollsentered the Chinese market back inthe 1980s， they immediately capturedthe hearts of many locals， oneof them being Tang. Then one dayshe saw some Beijing silk figurinesin a shopping mall for the first time.Being a doll lover that she was，Tang’s attention was immediatelydrawn to them， thinking to herself，“We already have such beautifuldolls in China after all！”

Tang then became an apprenticeof Yang Naihui， the secondgenerationinheritor of the Beijingsilk figurine craft. Later， she quit herjob as a software engineer in orderto fully devote her time and energyto the craft.

The handcraft of making Beijingsilk figurines uses silk as the raw material，therefore winning the nameof silk sculpturing. “Everything， fromthe face to the torso and the hair，is made of silk，” Tang introduced.Moreover， the filigree craftsmanshipof the accessories is also similar tothe national intangible cultural heritagetechnique of filigree inlaying，making every detail unique.

As the process of making silkfigurines is complex and the materialsexpensive， the price of a traditionalBeijing silk figurine is oftentens of thousands of RMB. This hascreated difficulties in monetizingthe art. With only a few artisans left，the art was nearly abandoned by themarket.

When Tang first began to learnthe art， she merely considered it ahobby. But as she observed how the"art was gradually disappearing， shedecided to build a small workshopto preserve it in Tongzhou Districtin 2003 and named the workshop“Tang Ren Fang，” literally meaning astudio for Tang-style dolls.

“I improved the techniques ofmaking silk figurines and gave themthe catchy name of Tang dolls. Withmy efforts， the production processhas been greatly shortened， andmany trendy elements have beenadded，” Tang said. Since Tang dollscombine elements of traditionalChinese culture and modern fashion，they have gradually becomepopular among ordinary people.During the past 20 years， her Tongzhoudisplay room has expandedto 60 mu in area， and she has alsoestablished branches in Guizhouand Sichuan provinces in southwestChina. All of them are generatingprofits.

In addition to the domesticmarket， the Chinese imprint of Tangdolls has also won the favor of manyforeigners. The Chinese dolls almostcompletely sell out every time theyare exhibited overseas. “A love fordolls is engraved in the DNA ofWesterners. Besides， the beautifullydisplayed Chinese elements andtheir great portability make themthe first choice for tourists as asouvenir，” said Tang.

The Tang dolls are among thebest-selling products in the KingPower duty-free shop in Bangkok，Thailand. Tang said that about 50percent of them are sold to foreigners，and they have appeared asnational gifts many times on importantoccasions， such as the Forumon China-Africa Cooperation， theBeijing Winter Olympics， the G20Hangzhou Summit in 2016， and the"Belt and Road Forum for InternationalCooperation among others.

The Organizing Committee ofthe 2022 Beijing Winter Olympicand Paralympic Games sent a specialletter of thanks to Tang RenFang for its strong support for thedisplay of Chinese culture in theWinter Olympic Village.

In 2022， Tang Ren Fang wascited by the UNESCO InternationalCenter for Creativity and SustainableDevelopment as an exampleof how to inherit and protectintangible cultural heritage.

Innovative Means of Inheriting Culture

Over the years， the Tang RenFang Art of Dolls Museum has developedfrom a simple productionworkshop into a modern museum.“We invite people to watch andexperience the process of makingsilk dolls. This not only popularizesthis intangible cultural heritage，but also makes consumers willingto pay for it，” Tang said.

Innovation is Tang’s secret.Tang is an endless source of interestingideas， and her quick actingon those ideas has allowed her toturn them into reality. This year，Tang said Tang Ren Fang plans tolaunch a new service of customizingdolls for consumers. “We willmake dolls by means of 3D colorprinting technology according tophotos that customers send .”

At present， 3D color printingis relatively expensive as mostprinters are bought overseas. Itcosts about RMB 200 to printa 3D silk figurine face. Tang isconsidering working with scientificresearch institutions in developingdomestically made 3D"printers in order to significantlyreduce production costs.

In addition to “intangiblecultural heritage plus technology，”“intangible cultural heritage pluscultural tourism” is also in Tang’splans. Tang is planning to open anart homestay. “Each room will bedecorated around a specific themeand related silk figurines will beput on display，” Tang said.

Tang’s love and sense of missioncontinues to drive her inpromoting the protection andinheriting of cultural heritage. Tobetter present the silk figurines asrealistically as possible， she spendsmuch of her time studying ancientChinese costumes.

“The patterns， clothing styles，and colors of clothes in ancienttimes are all very unique， givingmuch inspiration to artists today，”she said.

According to Tang， Japan developedNishijin brocade underthe influence of the Tang brocade，which became one of the mostluxurious products in the world.“The roots of the Tang brocadeare in China. Our next step is to rediscoverand develop this ancientculture，” she said. To this end， shehas devoted herself to introducingtraditional Chinese techniques ofdyeing， weaving， and embroidery，and plans to open a museum as asupplement to her Tang Ren FangArt of Dolls Museum.

At present， Tang Ren Fanghas gone beyond the role of abusiness and operates more likea research institute. It has publisheda book named Interpretationof Patterns in Miao Costumesin Southwest China ， and anotherbook on Beijing silk figurines will"come out soon.

A Better Future for Rural Communities

How can the work of inheritingintangible cultural heritagebe improved in the new era？In Tang’s view， the traditional“master-to-apprentice” approachonly teaches craftsmanship. Moreimportant than that now is howto integrate excellent craftsmanshipwith modern designs andaesthetics.

Tang and her friends have setup a vocational school in Guizhou，which took on the arduous task ofhelping alleviate poverty in thatarea. In 2011， relying on GuizhouForerunner College， a Tang RenFang intangible cultural heritageinheritance school took root inGuizhou， ushering in a betterfuture for local poor students. Theschool uses a variety of channelsto broaden students’ horizons andsystematically cultivates their skillsin color matching and designingcloths patterns.

“Guizhou Forerunner College isthe only vocational college in Chinathat is located in a village，” saidTang. “When Tang Ren Fang wasfirst established， there were onlydirt roads leading to and from theschool to the county downtown.On rainy days， the roads were verymuddy and bumpy.” Today， not onlyhave the roads been replaced bywide highways， the destiny of over500 girls from local poor familieshave also been changed by theschool.

Wu Qina is one of the graduatesof the school. She is a capable employeein Tang’s company， and hasrecently obtained her bachelor’s de-gree at Beijing Institute of FashionTechnology.

“My original intention was tohelp poor children find a way outof poverty，” Tang said. The schoolcharges no fees but gives eachstudent RMB 300 in subsidy everymonth. After graduation， Tang RenFang provides students with jobopportunities that can give them ahigh income reaching 10，000 RMBper month.

Another graduate of the schoolopened a teahouse， and the interiordecorations there were all handmadeusing the skills she learnedfrom Tang. After she made somemoney， she gave contributionsto the school to support youngerstudents.

“This is not an isolated case，”Tang said happily. Many graduates"have donated generously to theschool. At present， the monthlysubsidy to students has been increasedto RMB 500.

At the same time， Tang Ren Fangalso opened production workshopsin relocated residential compoundsin Huishui County， Qiannan Buyiand Miao Autonomous Prefecturein southwest China’s GuizhouProvince. Local residents not onlymoved into new homes， but alsoobtained access to stable jobs.

“Either you don’t do it， or doit and be the best of the best，”she said. Tang has done her bestto implement her life creed intoeverything she loves. In 2016，the Guizhou Forerunner Collegebecame a national cultural inheritingand innovation demonstrationcenter， recognized by the"Ministry of Education， the Ministryof Culture， and the NationalEthnic Affairs Commission. Thecollege and its students have wonawards at many national-levelcompetitions and been awardedby Guizhou Province for their successfulpoverty alleviation efforts.Tang herself also made the “ChinaGood People List，” was elected the“Qiannan Pride，” and was awardedthe title of “Top Talent of the CanalProject” launched by TongzhouDistrict， Beijing.

“Orders keep coming in recently，and our business is recoveringfaster than the previous two years，”Tang said happily. In the future，she will bring more surprises inpromoting the two-way empowermentof intangible cultural heritageand her business.