What comes to your mind when talking about flour? Adil Ibn E, an international student from Pakistan gives his answer: dumplings, noodles, spring pancakes, steamed buns... However, in Liaoning, flour can be used not only to make delicious food, but also to create beautiful artworks.

Dough modeling, which originated from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), has a history of 2,000 years in China. It refers to the traditional handicraft technique of using flour and auxiliary ingredients to make processed dough and then wielding various specialized tools to mold it into shapes of flowers, birds, fishes, insects, landscapes, utensils, figures, animals, etc. The characteristic feature of Liaoning’s dough modeling is “rough but delicate”, with particular emphasis on nuances.

Yu Qiquan, the representative inheritor of Shenyang Yu’s Dough Modeling Craftsmanship, a Shenyang Municipal-Level Intangible Cultural Heritage Project, is “quick of eye and deft of hand”. He demonstrates his mastery of “speed modeling”, while talking with Adil. Speed modeling which is the rapid creation, means capturing the characteristics of object in a short time, and quickly shaping its movement, image and essence. Kneading, pressing, and molding, then a portrait appears on dough.

A portrait dough modeling of Adil was created in just ten minutes, which was so vivid. “It’s so much like me! This is just another me in the dough modeling world!” Adil asked Mr. Yu to teach him how to make a figure of his favorite Chinese story character “Hua Mulan”. However, Adil did not shape it very smoothly. After repeated failures, Adil regained his confidence under the encouragement of Mr. Yu and finally completed his dough modeling work “Mulan”.

This experience got Adil thinking. In the rapidly changing digital era, craftsmen in Liaoning, China, get down to their work, refine their skills, and carefully craft their works with passion and concentration, so that their inherited skills are irreplaceable. That’s the spirit of craftsmanship in China.