The Sweet and Enduring Memory--Tianmen Sugar Sculpture

If you ask children who or what Ultraman and Xiyangyang (a cartoon sheep) are, they will be able to tell you the answer. But if you ask them about sugar sculpting, I’m afraid that not many of them will know what it is. This is because there are now fewer and fewer sugar sculpture artists who peddle this art on the streets.

Sugar sculpture is a sort of handicraft art, which combines the use of malt sugar as raw material, and with the help of scissors, small combs, knives, bamboo strips, springs and gesso and other auxiliary materials, is then used to mould different figures. Depending on the workmanship, sugar sculptures can be divided into three categories: blowing sugar figures, drawing sugar figures and moulding sugar figures.

When speaking of sugar sculptures, Tianmen Sugar Sculpture has to be mentioned. Tianmen Sugar Sculpture, started during the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644), has a history of more than 400 years and is one of China’s intangible cultural heritages.

History

Tianmen is located in beautiful Jianghan Plain in Hubei Province. It is a magical land with a long history. The Shijiahe culture which is about 6000 years old, and there’s Lu Yu who was the sage of tea, Zhong Xing and Tan Yuanchun who were founders of Jingling literature branch, and Jiang Liyong who was the number one scholar during Qing Dynasty, were all from Tianmen.

Sugar Sculpture is also one of Tianmen cultural heritages. Tianmen Sugar Sculpture of Hubei Province is famous in China for both its exquisite style and amazing craft skills.

It was said that sugar sculpture figures were used as offerings during sacrifices in both the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907) and Song Dynasty (960 – 1279). Another version is that it was invented by Liu Bowen who was the military counselor to Zhu Yuanzhang (a emperor in Ming Dynasty). He used scarecrows covered with sugar to lure away venomous bees to win battles. Either way, sugar sculptures have been in existence since ancient times. It has since been passed down from one generation to another and continually improved, making Tianmen Sugar Sculpture outshine others.

Tianmem Sugar Sculpture is very popular in the rural areas of Hubei Province. It is used as a kind of sacrificial offering and also as special gifts for weddings and birthday celebrations. Malt sugar is one of the main raw materials used on the sculpture. Artists heat the malt sugar until it becomes soft, and make it into four colors  – red, green, black and yellow to use. With the help of scissors, small combs and knives and other tools mentioned before, artists mould malt sugar into different figures using different techniques such as blowing, rubbing, pulling, nipping and cutting. The price of this kind of sugar sculpture figures used to be very cheap in the past decades. They were the favorite toys for children from families who did not have a lot of money. In the early 1980s, it only costs several fen (a fractional unit of money in China, a fen=1/100 of a yuan or 1/10 of a jiao) or could be exchanged with several toothpaste tubes. However, as the market explodes with more sophisticated toys for children, sugar sculptures no longer satisfy children. The decline in popularity sees fewer street peddlers selling their sugar wares. Sugar sculptures can now be found at the Festival Temple Fairs in Beijing.

Complicated Skills

Three kinds of themes are commonly seen in sugar sculptures: loyalty, luck and protection against evil. A representative work of loyalty is Guan Yu Reading at Night, and work of luck is Long Xi Feng, and work of protection against evil is Detoxicate Five Kinds of Poisons.

The main raw material for Tianmen Sugar Sculpture is malt sugar. Different colored malt sugars can be made by using edible pigments. Malt sugar used in sculpture has to be heated with higher temperatures and it can only be used after several processing procedures, which includes the sorting and cooking of malt sugar, followed by the firing, melting and colorizing of it.

Tianmen Malt Sugar Sculpture can be divided into two kinds according to different techniques. One is “blowing” and another is “moulding”. “Blowing” needs to be quick and accurate. While “moulding” emphasize work’s structure and color which needs artists to have both exquisite skills and aesthetic consciousness. Generally speaking, animal and plant figures often are made using the “blowing” technique and human figures are often made by “moulding”. However, Tianmen Sugar Sculpture works are often made through the combination of “blowing” and “moulding”. Actually these two kinds of techniques cannot be separated, and when combined it makes a sugar sculpture that is perennially fresh and interesting.

Themes of Tianmen Sugar Sculpture are of a wide variety. There are hundreds of famous works and tens of commonly seen ones. Famous works of animal and plant figures include Shuang Shi Xi Qiu (two lions playing with a ball), You Long Xi Feng (a dragon playing with a phoenix ), Qi Lin Song Zi (unicorn sending sons), Lotus Roots, Lao Shu Tuo Hu Lu (a mouse pulling a gourd ) and Grasshopper and so on. Works of human figures are too many to calculate. Some popular works include Jiang Taigong Fishing, Great Sage Equalling Heaven, Zhao Zilong rescue his master, The Eight Immortals, nezha’s triumph against dragon king, sending-child buddhist and Playing Flower-Drum and so on.

Tianmen Sugar Sculpture is carefully and exquisitely made. It may look simple but is the result of decades of practice and skills, combined with the artists’ painstaking efforts.

The Declining Tradition

Today, there are only about five people who engage themselves in this traditional handicraft. But due to the lack of practice, their works are not as good as it once was.

In April 2007, Tianmen Sugar Sculpture has been listed as one of “The First Group of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Hubei Province”. This fine traditional folk custom, which started in the Tang Dynasty and later prospered during the Ming Dynasty, must be preserved.