Sugar painting (糖画) is a form of traditional

Chinese folk art Chinese folk art or Chinese handcrafts are artistic forms inherited from a regional or ethnic scene in China. Usually there are some variation between Province (China), provinces. Individual folk arts have a long history, and many traditions are ...

using hot, liquid sugar to create two dimensional objects on a marble or metal surface. Melted sugar is carried by a small ladle made by bronze or copper. After it cools, it will be stuck to a bamboo stick and removed using a

spatula A spatula is a broad, flat, flexible blade used to mix, spread and lift material including foods, drugs, plaster and paints. In medical applications, "spatula" may also be used synonymously with tongue depressor. The word ''spatula'' derives ...

. Three dimensional objects can be created by laying solidified sugar.

History

Sugar painting may have originated during the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

when aristocratic families or government officials molded small animals made of sugar for religious rituals. This art form then became popular. After that period, as techniques improved, Chinese folk artists combined the molded sugar with other arts, like

shadow play Shadow play, also known as shadow puppetry, is an ancient form of storytelling and entertainment which uses flat articulated cut-out figures (shadow puppets) which are held between a source of light and a translucent screen or scrim (material), ...

and

paper cutting Papercutting or paper cutting is the art of paper designs that has evolved all over the world to adapt to different cultural styles. One traditional distinction most styles share is that the designs are cut from a single sheet of paper as oppo ...

, to create a more diverse range of patterns. In

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

, during the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

, further developments were made in production seeing the replacement of the molds with the now-common small ladle. Nowadays, sugar painting is considered as a representation of the wisdom and creativeness of Chinese people. To inherit and develop this kind of art and food, the government listed it as Provincial Non-Material Culture Heritage. After the implementation of reform and re-opening policy, many famous sugar painting artists are invited to foreign countries, such as Japan and Spain to exhibit Chinese folk art.

Technique

The process of sugar painting includes four steps, including boiling down syrup, painting on a plane, sticking to a stick, removing from the plane. If a three dimensional figure is created, layers of pre-made two dimensional sugar painting are used. Although techniques vary, normally the hot sugar is drizzled from a small ladle onto a flat surface, usually white marble or metal. The outline is produced with a relatively thick stream of sugar. Then, supporting strands of thinner sugar are placed to attach to the outline, and fill in the body of the figure. These supporting strands may be produced with swirls, zig-zags, or other patterns. Finally, when completed, a thin wooden stick, used to hold the figure, is attached in two or more places with more sugar. Then, while still warm and pliable, the figure is removed from the surface using a spatula-like tool, and is sold to the waiting customer, or placed on display. In 2012, automatic machines for making sugar paintings started to appear in the market. Once sugar is added, the machine is programmed to paint on a plane in a process similar to automatic engraving. It does not need any art skills or experience, and is easy to operate. There are hundreds of graphics than can be painted using this machine.

Folktale

Some say that it is created by a Chinese writer,

Chen Zi'ang Chen Zi'ang (, 661 (or 656)–702), courtesy name Boyu (), was a Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty. He was important in helping to bring into being the type of poetry which is considered to be characteristically "Tang". Dissatisfied with the ...

(陳子昂), during

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

. He loved to eat

brown sugar Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content or produced by t ...

, but he liked to eat it in a unique way that he can both appreciate like an artwork and enjoy like sweets. So he melted the sugar and cast the sugar into molds to form its shape. One day, as he was holding the sugar casting on his hand, the

prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

passed by and saw it. He asked for it and took it away. After he got back, the

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

saw it and thought of it as an interesting invention. He complimented

and gives it a name, “sugar pancake”. So it became a snack popular in the court. After he left the palace, he spread this technique in his hometown, located in modern

province. Because of the emperor's compliment, this form of art and food became popular quickly and developed as the sugar painting nowadays.

Objects

This snack is popular among children. Customers (especially children) usually select a figure by spinning the arrow on a wheel which will randomly land on popular objects. These objects include animals, like duck, fish, monkey, dog, bird. The subject of painting can be personalized as well. The common objects are usually objects that symbolize fortune or famous characters from Chinese classical novels. For example, artists can paint Chinese mythical creatures,

Chinese gods Chinese gods and immortals are beings in various Chinese religions seen in a variety of ways and mythological contexts. Many are worshiped as deities because traditional Chinese religion is polytheistic, stemming from a pantheistic view that ...

, fictional characters from the

Chinese opera Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...

(ex. warriors), plants (ex. Flowers), daily objects (ex. bicycles), and fortune symbols (ex. dragon and phoenix).Almost everything can be painted, depending on the skills and creativity of the artists.

Location

Authentic sugar painting can be found in

Sichuan province Sichuan is a Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capita ...

. But since it become more and more popular, it can also be found in Henan, Tianjin, Beijing, and so on.

References

External links

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Images

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