Liaoning Provincial Museum continues to attract a steady stream of visitors during the depth of winter. In the exhibition hall for “Ancient Liaoning”, a group of vibrant foreign girls stood out, who are international students from Thailand, Vietnam, India, and Lebanon studying in Liaoning. They were led by Liaoning International Communication Center to visit the thematic exhibition of Hongshan Culture, appreciating the charm of Hongshan cultural relics.
Hongshan Culture is one of the main origins of Chinese civilization, featuring the jade pig-shaped dragon as a significant cultural relic unearthed from the Niuheliang site. In the exhibition hall for “Ancient Liaoning”, the docent from Liaoning Provincial Museum introduced the relationship between the jade pig-shaped dragon and Hongshan Culture, as well as their significance, to international students. The jade pig-shaped dragon exhibited at the museum is large in size. It was only excavated in high-status tombs of the Hongshan mausoleum at Niuheliang, serving as a symbol of social status, hierarchy, and power. In the exhibition hall, the students continuously took photos to record them, carefully observed every artifact unearthed from the Niuheliang site, and quietly exchanged their feelings and experiences.
Yu Qiquan, the inheritor of Shenyang Yu’s Dough Figurine-Making, accompanied the international students during the exhibition. He opened his toolbox to show colorful dough and delicate tools in the quaint classroom at the museum. He blended a white dough with a green one, made an oval dough to shape the body of the jade pig-shaped dragon, then used two pieces of waterdrop-shaped dough to create its ears, and finally utilized tools to sculpt its eyes and mouth. With a series of kneading, pressing, and pinching, he successfully made a vivid jade pig-shaped dragon in just 5 minutes.
With an exclamation of wonderment, the international students were eager to try making it. Under the guidance of Yu Qiquan, these nimble girls quickly mastered the basic techniques of making dough figurines of the jade pig-shaped dragon. Despite the inaccurate shape they created, they had deepened their understanding of the form features and cultural value of the jade pig-shaped dragon during the process of continuous molding, adjusting, and modifying.
Tanya Malik, an Indian student studying at Shenyang Normal University for a short time, has been deeply interested in Chinese culture from an early age, possessing a wealth of knowledge about the jade pig-shaped dragon. She introduced to her classmates like a docent: “This jade pig-shaped dragon collected by Liaoning Provincial Museum was unearthed in Jianping County, Chaoyang City. It is chicken-bone white all over with a curled body, its head and tail connected, unique in style. Thai student Pockybb was fascinated by the Hongshan cultural relics and marveled at Yu’s dough figurine skills. She said, “This is my first time to see the jade pig-shaped dragon and learn Chinese dough figurine art. I have gained a deeper understanding of Hongshan Culture and its cultural relics through this art form.” Pockybb put the dough figurine of the jade pig-shaped dragon that she made by herself in a clear box, intending to give it to her family as a gift when she returns home for the holidays.
At the end of this activity, the international students joyfully held dough figurines of the jade pig-shaped dragon made by themselves, taking photos to capture and preserve the precious memories of this immersive experience in traditional Chinese culture.
