Ningxia's "Shou" artists "shape" various forms of nostalgia at their fingertips and "send" nostalgia

　　China News Service, Yinchuan, March 17th: Title: Ningxia’s “guarding” artists “shape” various forms of nostalgia at their fingertips and “send” nostalgia

　　China News Service reporter Yu Jing

　　A piece of mud, through kneading, kneading, rubbing, scraping and carving, becomes women chatting in the village, men playing cards on the kang, and children playing.

In the hands of Wang Yonghong, the clay sculpture inheritor of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region-level intangible cultural heritage project, these clay figures have vivid faces, laughing or bowing their heads to think, as if they are alive.

On the 17th, the reporter walked into Wang Yonghong’s studio and walked into a world carefully carved from clay.

Clay sculpture works by Wang Yonghong.

Photo provided by interviewee

　　"The shaping of a character's head is like addition and subtraction. One step more and one step less will cause the image to change." said Wang Yonghong, who has been associated with clay sculpture for more than 30 years.

The vivid clay figurine works are displayed on the display racks, telling their own stories, and the studio seems to be echoing with the clay figurines' conversations, songs and laughter.

　　In the work "Opening the Face", an old woman holds a silk thread to open the face of the girl to be married. The old woman looks very cautious, while the girl looks happy; in "The Farmer", a group of people are sitting under a big tree, Beside the stone roller, some were holding bowls, some had their legs curled up, and some were covering their sleeves... Wang Yonghong said that these subjects were the most authentic looks of villagers in her memory.

　　Wang Yonghong’s “clay sculptures” come from rural life.

As a child who grew up by the Yellow River, Wang Yonghong's clay sculptures belong to the Yellow River clay sculptures.

It is understood that the material of Yellow River clay sculptures is Yellow River red clay, without adding any auxiliary raw materials, and the fine clay refining process is completed through crushing, drying, sifting, brewing, beating, kneading, etc., and then made into various clay sculpture works.

　　"When I was a child, I didn't have many toys. At that time, I could make a clay figurine and play with it for a long time." Recalling his childhood, Wang Yonghong, 56, still has vivid memories of the plants and trees in the countryside and the simple smiling faces of the villagers. appeared before her eyes.

　　Wang Yonghong pointed to several clay figurine children on the table. They were carrying bundles of licorice on their backs, shoulders, or leading camels, giggling and laughing.

"This is how we were when we were young." Wang Yonghong said that he used to work as a student and often go to the mountains to collect Chinese medicinal materials, such as ephedra, licorice, and cistanche.

Scenes from the past are recreated by Wang Yonghong in the form of clay sculptures.

　　Out of her fond memories of childhood and love for rural life, Wang Yonghong began to create the "Story of a Village" series of works in 2006. She used the characters and historical memories on the banks of the Yellow River as the theme, and through a series of scene-like clay sculptures, The life scenes, children's games and every moment of street life of the children living on the banks of the Yellow River in the 1970s and 1980s are presented one by one.

　　A series of works such as "Village Chief", "Matchmaker", "Returning to Mother's Home", "Mountain Baby", "Open Face" and "Householder" have a strong local flavor in Ningxia and reflect the real life of working people.

The undyed red clay exudes a rustic sense of the times, and the life scenes represented by naive characters instantly bring people back to the living conditions of decades ago.

　　Wang Yonghong's rural-themed clay sculptures are not only popular locally, but also go abroad. He has represented Ningxia in foreign cultural exchange activities in France, Portugal, Germany, Belgium and other countries, and has become an ambassador for cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.

In order to spread and inherit clay sculpture craftsmanship, Wang Yonghong also opened a clay sculpture class, allowing children to receive traditional Chinese cultural education in the process of entertaining and educating.

　　"My dream is to build an old village out of mud. When all the old villages disappear in the future, people can still recall their original lives and find their unique nostalgia through my works." It has already been done. Wang Yonghong, who has nearly 2,000 works, said that she will keep doing it. The themes of the village will never end, and the stories of the village will never be finished.

(over)