Experience Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritages with Smart Lady Series: Clay Rabbit

By Junye Zhang, Jinhong Wang, Zhou Zhang

Tune in to our live program on “Experiencing Chinese Culture with Smart Lady” supported by the Beijing Women’s Federation. The theme of today's program is the clay rabbit.

Featuring a rabbit head and a human body, the clay rabbit, or Rabbit God, is the mascot of Beijing and a representative intangible cultural heritage of China at the national level. Since the Ming Dynasty, old Beijingers have had the custom of “inviting” and “sending off” the Rabbit God on the Mid-Autumn Festival, implying peace and auspiciousness.

Today, we have with us Ms. Lin Aixing, a representative inheritor of the handicraft in Dongcheng District, and the head of Beijing Smart Lady Workshop. Lin developed a strong interest in clay sculpture when she was a child. In 2007, she began to specialize in the traditional handicrafts of Rabbit God. Her works won awards in more than 20 exhibitions and competitions and were highlighted in China’s global exchange activities with Pakistan, France, Russia, South Korea, Iran, and the United States, receiving great recognition from all over the world.

In this program, Ms. Lin will share the history and culture of clay rabbit, somecase some of the clay rabbit she made, and demonstrate how to make clay rabbit on the spot.