Toys are most people's sweetest childhood memories.
These days, children have such a huge variety of choices, from
hairy animals, cartoons to sophisticated electronic games, that
they are oblivious to the playthings their parents or grandparents
enjoyed many years ago.
In fact, few Beijingers under the age of 40 know of
zongren, or bristle figurine.
Unique to Beijing, zongren received world
acclaim long ago. It won a silver medal at the 1915 Panama-Pacific
International Exposition held in San Francisco, said Bai Dacheng,
66, currently the only zongren
craftsman in Beijing.
Located inside the quiet Dongguanfang hutong near the scenic
Shichahai area, Bai's home and workshop appears to be a family
museum of handiworks including shadow play (piying), dough
figurines (mianren) and flying kites.
People nostalgic for old Beijing culture will be astonished by
the sight of so many rare toys. Most eye-catching, however, are the
dozens of exquisite zongren figurines
packed up in an antique cupboard.
About 15 centimetres tall, zongren
is the clay miniature of various Peking Opera characters, dressed
in silk costumes and armed with tiny weapons.
A ring of short pig bristles is densely adhered to the bottom,
which distinguishes the figurines from any other figurines.
The bristles seem useless, but believe it or not, they enable
the figurines in Bai's collection to dance. Visitors to Bai's
studio cannot wait to see how he gets his clay actors to resemble a
real opera.
"It is easy. Put two or three figurines on an ordinary bronze
tea plate, then slightly strike its edge with a stick. With
resonance, the bristle stand vibrates and makes the figurine move,"
Bai said.
Turning around in opposite directions, figurines inevitably
fight with each other and dance to clear tapping sounds.
Fascinating stage effects ensue.
And that is how zongren came to be given
another name, "Peking Opera on a plate."
Take a look at Bai's collection. One will notice some figurines
looking smaller and less refined than others. Their flat arms are
connected with a flexible steel, which allows them to swing. This
is adapted from piying. Over 100 years old, these are original
works of Wang Chunpei, father of zongren.
Wang was a Manchu craftsman of the late Qing Dynasty
(1644-1911). His enthusiasm for the arts of Peking Opera and piying
inspired him to invent bristle figurines.
Immediately after Wang created zongren and
showed it at festival fairs, the small dancing clay figurines
became popular. It captured juries' attention at the 1915
International Expo.
In late 1930s, a tea merchant from the United States invited
Wang to showcase his bristle toys across the Pacific, and offered
the destitute artisan considerable money.
But Wang was unwilling to leave his homeland and declined the
invitation.
Life-long devotion
"I didn't know about the bristle figurine until I was 19. I
became ill and had to suspend my schooling as a student of aviation
engineering in 1959," said Bai.
Brought up in a hutong, Bai has been enthusiastic for Beijing's
folk arts since childhood. He is apt at Chinese painting and making
clay figurines (niren).
He met an elder zongren enthusiast, who took
him to visit 60-year-old Wang Hanqing, son of Wang Chunpei. Though
an accomplished craftsman inheriting his father's skills, Wan
Hanqing found it difficult to live on bristle figurines. He had no
intention to preserve the art as a family tradition.
Fascinated with this dying handicraft, Bai learned the art of
zongren from Wang and recognized it as lifetime
devotion.
He later opened a small studio at the Wangfujing Street in early
1960s to sell his bristle productions. He also performed at several
traditional fairs and grand handicraft exhibitions.
A comeback of old Beijing art, Bai's zongren
figurines have attracted customers from both home and abroad, who
have spread the dancing figurines on the plate to many parts of the
world, including Japan, France and Israel.
In 1999, he initiated the Old Beijing Culture Street at the
rebuilt Dong'an Building and opened a platform for many other
craftsmen and folk artists struggling for survival.
Bai also owns two studios to make zongren
works there.
Despite the popularity of his handicraft, Bai shies away from
large-scale productions and insists on individualized orders.
Large-scale production may make money, but it will lose the
uniqueness, he said.
He believes that to revive the declining folk art, maintaining
its originality is top priority.
New attempts
In the past five decades, he has spared no efforts to create
better zongren figurines.
Earliest bristle figurines made by the Wang family had no legs
and all wore colourful paper dresses.
To strike a vivid pose on the plate, Bai first attaches legs to
the clay body, one lifting up, to give life and even spirit to the
new figurines, who are able to stand on one foot.
He has also replaced the fragile paper with silk, to the
backside of which he has stuck a layer of xuan paper, a kind of
high quality paper to write calligraphy.
The gorgeous and delicate costume designs light up every
character, and highlight Bai's drawing talents. Bai also pays
minute attention to sketching the facial make-ups.
"Without a comprehensive knowledge of Peking Opera, one could
not portray a vivid face with a soul," he said.
The largest set of bristle figurines Bai has ever completed
features the fairy tale character Sun Wukong, or the monkey king,
and over 30 little monkeys.
And this rebelling monkey seems to be quite popular among most
of Bai's foreign friends.
An 80-centimetre-high monkey king made to a Japanese customer's
order in 1989 has long been a record in Bai's art life of
zongren.
Despite his success, Bai, like most folk artists, has trouble
finding a devoted successor.
Under his arrangement, his son Bai Lin was exposed to the
regular study of the Peking Opera. But now he works in the tourism
industry, and shows little interest in his father's business.
(China Daily February 28, 2006)
