The West has its Easter Eggs, but painting on egg shells is also part of Chinese folk art tradition. Zhao Wei is an artist, who not only paints, but carves and even embroiders on egg shells. On her tiny canvases, she captures legends, folk scenes and the Olympic mascots.
Chinese folk themes, like these traditional New Year series, are a favorite with Zhao Wei. Her works also include carved zodiacs and embroidered figures. Decades of experience have enabled Zhao to easily sketch a figure with a few strokes, all that's needed for her tiny canvases.
Born in Tianjin, Zhao Wei inherited her artistic genes from her father who was also artistically talented. She liked to paint from the time she was a little girl.
Her fascination with egg shells started in 1970, when she went to work in the countryside in Heilongjiang province.
There she found plenty of materials for her craft. The hobby would remain with her for over thirty years.
After retiring from an administrative job last year, Zhao was able to devote herself to her hobby wholeheartedly. She thinks even the small surface of an egg shell can convey any theme.
Zhao's biggest work is the character series from the Chinese novel "Outlaws of the Marsh". She aimed to create a lifelike series of all the characters in the literary classic,and Zhao worked for three months to finish the task. Her set includes all the one hundred and eight warriors depicted in the novel. On an egg shell smaller than a palm, Zhao vividly delineates characters - each with different personalities. Although she used some references from the books, Zhao worked a lot from her own imagination.
Zhao worked in Beijing's Tianqiao area for twenty years. Her love for Tianqiao folk culture inspired another series "Eight Strange Performers of Tianqiao". Now the set graces the Tianqiao Street Administrative Office. The "Eight Strange Performers of Tianqiao" are renowned folk performers in the Tianqiao area of old Beijing, each of them boasts incredible and unusual skills. Zhao's works remind viewers of the lively street scene of Tianqiao, a folk culture center in old Beijing.
With encouragement from her husband, Zhao began to branch out to work on more difficult projects. Carving on eggs is not easy, as you can imagine. It's important to use just the right amount of force with the knife on the delicate surface - otherwise it will break. And from this set of twelve Chinese Zodiacs, you can tell Zhao is a skillful egg carver.
After success carving on eggs, Zhao went on to embroider on egg shells. That seems like an impossible task, and very few people have tried it. After a lot of attempts and many failures, Zhao managed to do it. She has successfully embroidered the "rose bouquet" and other pieces. The designs are simple but cute. Embroidering on eggs takes even more patience and care than carving. Now Zhao's embroidery collection has dozens of pieces.
Zhao's most recent work is an Olympic mascot set, the five mascots are doing sports featured at the Games. This set is Zhao's favorite. And she wants to donate them to the Beijing Organizing Committee for Olympic Games.
As well as egg shell creations, Zhao has made a lot of other works of art, including hemp slippers, bags and vases. From all her works, you can see the creator's dexterity in her mind and hand, and a warm heart that loves life. Zhao says her main interest now is egg shell art and she will continue to amaze people with her unique works.
(CCTV July 3,2008)
