Tang Yan, inheritor of the Beijing silk figurines craft, builds her own dreams and helps others realize theirs. 

From February 9-17 this year, nine festive activities centered on the Chinese Spring Festival, which included art performances, intangible cultural heritage exhibitions, and tourism promotion, were staged one after another in Trafalgar Square in London, the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh, and a museum in Ireland’s Dublin. Audiences were captivated by the charm of Chinese culture exhibited through the festive atmosphere of the Chinese Spring Festival. At the activities, Beijing silk figurines, known in China as juanren, attracted the attention of many people.

Back to China. In Zhangjiawan Town of Beijing’s eastern district of Tongzhou, there is a Tang Ren Fang Art of Dolls Museum which has on exhibit various kinds of silk figurines. Visitors can see delicate silk figurines that are modeled after various classic images, such as the Flying Apsaras of Dunhuang, the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea, the Four Beauties in Chinese History, the Twelve Beauties of Jinling (former name of Nanjing), and Mi Yue, a powerful female politician from the Qin state during the Warring States period (475-221 B.C.).

Visitors to the museum are immediately impressed with the ornate handicrafts as well as the traditional skills that were used to make them, which have been recognized as national intangible cultural heritage.

Tang Yan, founder of the museum, is also an inheritor of the Beijing juanren craft and chairman of Beijing Tang Ren Fang Culture Development Co., Ltd. Over the years, she has found an innovative path to integrate economic development into the protection and inheriting of intangible cultural heritage.

These four silk dolls are souvenirs of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Dressed in Peking Opera costumes, they are (from left) Yang Yuhuan, Mu Guiying, Sun Wukong, and Hua Mulan. 

From Interest to Mission

When American Barbie dolls entered the Chinese market back in the 1980s, they immediately captured the hearts of many locals, one of them being Tang. Then one day she saw some Beijing silk figurines in a shopping mall for the first time. Being a doll lover that she was, Tang’s attention was immediately drawn to them, thinking to herself, “We already have such beautiful dolls in China after all!”

Tang then became an apprentice of Yang Naihui, the second-generation inheritor of the Beijing silk figurine craft. Later, she quit her job as a software engineer in order to fully devote her time and energy to the craft.

The handcraft of making Beijing silk figurines uses silk as the raw material, therefore winning the name of silk sculpturing. “Everything, from the face to the torso and the hair, is made of silk,” Tang introduced. Moreover, the filigree craftsmanship of the accessories is also similar to the national intangible cultural heritage technique of filigree inlaying, making every detail unique.

As the process of making silk figurines is complex and the materials expensive, the price of a traditional Beijing silk figurine is often tens of thousands of RMB. This has created difficulties in monetizing the art. With only a few artisans left, the art was nearly abandoned by the market.

When Tang first began to learn the art, she merely considered it a hobby. But as she observed how the art was gradually disappearing, she decided to build a small workshop to preserve it in Tongzhou District in 2003 and named the workshop “Tang Ren Fang,” literally meaning a studio for Tang-style dolls.

“I improved the techniques of making silk figurines and gave them the catchy name of Tang dolls. With my efforts, the production process has been greatly shortened, and many trendy elements have been added,” Tang said. Since Tang dolls combine elements of traditional Chinese culture and modern fashion, they have gradually become popular among ordinary people. During the past 20 years, her Tongzhou display room has expanded to 60 mu in area, and she has also established branches in Guizhou and Sichuan provinces in southwest China. All of them are generating profits.

In addition to the domestic market, the Chinese imprint of Tang dolls has also won the favor of many foreigners. The Chinese dolls almost completely sell out every time they are exhibited overseas. “A love for dolls is engraved in the DNA of Westerners. Besides, the beautifully displayed Chinese elements and their great portability make them the first choice for tourists as a souvenir,” said Tang.

The Tang dolls are among the best-selling products in the King Power duty-free shop in Bangkok, Thailand. Tang said that about 50 percent of them are sold to foreigners, and they have appeared as national gifts many times on important occasions, such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the Beijing Winter Olympics, the G20 Hangzhou Summit in 2016, and the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation among others.

The Organizing Committee of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games sent a special letter of thanks to Tang Ren Fang for its strong support for the display of Chinese culture in the Winter Olympic Village.

In 2022, Tang Ren Fang was cited by the UNESCO International Center for Creativity and Sustainable Development as an example of how to inherit and protect intangible cultural heritage.

Innovative Means of Inheriting Culture 

Over the years, the Tang Ren Fang Art of Dolls Museum has developed from a simple production workshop into a modern museum. “We invite people to watch and experience the process of making silk dolls. This not only popularizes this intangible cultural heritage, but also makes consumers willing to pay for it,” Tang said.

Innovation is Tang’s secret. Tang is an endless source of interesting ideas, and her quick acting on those ideas has allowed her to turn them into reality. This year, Tang said Tang Ren Fang plans to launch a new service of customizing dolls for consumers. “We will make dolls by means of 3D color printing technology according to photos that customers send .”

At present, 3D color printing is relatively expensive as most printers are bought overseas. It costs about RMB 200 to print a 3D silk figurine face. Tang is considering working with scientific research institutions in developing domestically made 3D printers in order to significantly reduce production costs.

In addition to “intangible cultural heritage plus technology,” “intangible cultural heritage plus cultural tourism” is also in Tang’s plans. Tang is planning to open an art homestay. “Each room will be decorated around a specific theme and related silk figurines will be put on display,” Tang said.

Tang’s love and sense of mission continues to drive her in promoting the protection and inheriting of cultural heritage. To better present the silk figurines as realistically as possible, she spends much of her time studying ancient Chinese costumes.

“The patterns, clothing styles, and colors of clothes in ancient times are all very unique, giving much inspiration to artists today,” she said.

According to Tang, Japan developed Nishijin brocade under the influence of the Tang brocade, which became one of the most luxurious products in the world. “The roots of the Tang brocade are in China. Our next step is to rediscover and develop this ancient culture,” she said. To this end, she has devoted herself to introducing traditional Chinese techniques of dyeing, weaving, and embroidery, and plans to open a museum as a supplement to her Tang Ren Fang Art of Dolls Museum.

At present, Tang Ren Fang has gone beyond the role of a business and operates more like a research institute. It has published a book named Interpretation of Patterns in Miao Costumes in Southwest China, and another book on Beijing silk figurines will come out soon.

Tang Yan (center) teaches a student how to make Tang dolls. 

A Better Future for Rural Communities 

How can the work of inheriting intangible cultural heritage be improved in the new era? In Tang’s view, the traditional “master-to-apprentice” approach only teaches craftsmanship. More important than that now is how to integrate excellent craftsmanship with modern designs and aesthetics.

Tang and her friends have set up a vocational school in Guizhou, which took on the arduous task of helping alleviate poverty in that area. In 2011, relying on Guizhou Forerunner College, a Tang Ren Fang intangible cultural heritage inheritance school took root in Guizhou, ushering in a better future for local poor students. The school uses a variety of channels to broaden students’ horizons and systematically cultivates their skills in color matching and designing cloths patterns.

“Guizhou Forerunner College is the only vocational college in China that is located in a village,” said Tang. “When Tang Ren Fang was first established, there were only dirt roads leading to and from the school to the county downtown. On rainy days, the roads were very muddy and bumpy.” Today, not only have the roads been replaced by wide highways, the destiny of over 500 girls from local poor families have also been changed by the school.

Wu Qina is one of the graduates of the school. She is a capable employee in Tang’s company, and has recently obtained her bachelor’s degree at Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology.

“My original intention was to help poor children find a way out of poverty,” Tang said. The school charges no fees but gives each student RMB 300 in subsidy every month. After graduation, Tang Ren Fang provides students with job opportunities that can give them a high income reaching 10,000 RMB per month.

Another graduate of the school opened a teahouse, and the interior decorations there were all handmade using the skills she learned from Tang. After she made some money, she gave contributions to the school to support younger students.

“This is not an isolated case,” Tang said happily. Many graduates have donated generously to the school. At present, the monthly subsidy to students has been increased to RMB 500.

At the same time, Tang Ren Fang also opened production workshops in relocated residential compounds in Huishui County, Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China’s Guizhou Province. Local residents not only moved into new homes, but also obtained access to stable jobs.

“Either you don’t do it, or do it and be the best of the best,” she said. Tang has done her best to implement her life creed into everything she loves. In 2016, the Guizhou Forerunner College became a national cultural inheriting and innovation demonstration center, recognized by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture, and the National Ethnic Affairs Commission. The college and its students have won awards at many national-level competitions and been awarded by Guizhou Province for their successful poverty alleviation efforts. Tang herself also made the “China Good People List,” was elected the “Qiannan Pride,” and was awarded the title of “Top Talent of the Canal Project” launched by Tongzhou District, Beijing.

“Orders keep coming in recently, and our business is recovering faster than the previous two years,” Tang said happily. In the future, she will bring more surprises in promoting the two-way empowerment of intangible cultural heritage and her business.