Dough figurine is a traditional handicraft art in China. Its history more than one thousand years.
Kneaded dough art was on display at Queensbay Mall in conjunction of the Chinese New Year.
Creating a deep awareness to exhibitions is another way to promote this dying folk art to the general public.
Few people specialize in today.Dough figurine artists are accomplished in decorative figures. What an incredible job they done. They are very talented artists.
Very skillful art.
Their works are characteristic.
Dad and mom were amazed to see this art form on 1.2.2009.
After the orchestra performance in the afternoon, we went round the stalls.
Enjoying watching this China's unique folk art.
Coloured dough is made of flour, sticky rice flour, honey and preservatives.
Then steamed and kneaded with different colours.
They are very durable and will not crack in many years to come. What a great job.
They have to store sculptures in a container to keep them moist.
Each of the tiny characters has different ears, eyebrows and facial expressions, despite their tiny size.
Characters from the classic novel and include 108 warriors.
Both of you feel very inspired to watch figurine artists at work.
With well kneaded dough in their hands and colours, they shaped them to a figure.
Girls, it was interesting to see how a few color pieces of dough were turned into expressive and lively figurines by the trained hands of a folk artist.
Very simple tools to use such as a spatula, scissors, a comb and a pointed stick.We were fascinated as an artist kneaded the flour. He cut a small piece of dough and rubbed it several times. He made a hand of human. A simple one can be finished in a couple of minutes.
We reached home at about 5.45p.m. Girls, both of you always have hours of fun kneading the handmade dough and making interesting items with it during school holiday.
The figures speak for themselves. We like them so much.
Cheong Fatt Tze, winner of the UNESCO Conservation Award 2000 National Architecture Award for Conservation 1995.
We visited this historical building on 1.3.2009 with our student, Jia Yin.
It carefully restored after a century of neglect. Restoration work on Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion began in 1991 and was completed in 1995.
What a perfect place to feel part of the heritage of Penang in this lovely afternoon.
After Cheong Fatt Tze's death, the family scattered. The mansion fell into disrepair. Finally it was bought in the 1990s by a group of heritage lovers, who invested in restoring it.
The mansion holds many portraits and photographs of the man himself and his favourite wife. Cheong Fatt Tze had eight wives. There are other antiques like an abacus, silk clothing, bamboo pillows, a few bits of old furniture.
They are all remain of the Cheong family's possessions. The area is built much with feng shui principles. Every door had Chinese sayings written on them. It tells a story. A gold leaf caligraphy which encourage the safety and prosperity of the household.
It is an grand Chinese-style mansion along Leith Street with high ceiling and old stone floor. It had been converted into a hotel. It is quite a tourist attraction and there were groups of people on guided tours twice a day. The Mansion has 38 rooms, 5 courtyards, 7 staircases and 220 windows.
They do 1 hour tours for visitors. The tour itself was fascinating. Our guide spent 1 hour with us talking about the social and commercial background in which Cheong Fatt Tze developed from immigrant labourer to Mandarin, family life of the Straits Chinese.
She also talked about Chinese architecture and the basics of Feng Shui.
We were the only Penangites. Our tourguide spoke fluent English. It's a must-not-miss experience to study the cultural, historical and architectural heritage of Penang.
