Sweet Painting for LNY
The art of sugar painting is alive and well in Canada
Yesterday was the fourth day of the Lunar New Year. I was at Canadian luxury retailer Holt Renfrew in downtown Vancouver, and saw a man in a Chinese jacket making sugar painting (糖画).
He took a ladle of syrup and deftly created a bird, then got a skewer and placed it in the middle of the bird and let that dry before making a dragonfly for the next person in line.
Then using a thin rectangular scraper, carefully lifted up the bird from the marble table.
The history of sugar painting apparently dates back to the Ming dynasty, when aristocratic families or government officials moulded small animals made of sugar for religious rituals.
It was later in the Qing dynasty that the art form developed further in Sichuan, where moulds were replaced with a ladle and the artisan’s skill in manipulating the caramelised sugar.
Ordinary sugar is boiled until it turns into a russet colour, poured onto trays and cooled down and then broken into shards.
From there it is kept warm in a pot to retain the syrupy consistency in order to make “paintings” with it.
At Holt Renfrew, visitors were encouraged to spin a small wheel that featured different animals and insects, from birds, to dragonflies and butterflies.
The sugar painting attracted Chinese people who were thrilled to see something they were familiar with in China alive and well in Vancouver, while non-Chinese were intrigued by it and wanted to have a souvenir.
Sweet, soft power in action.