World Of Vivid Designs:A Study Of Folk Clay Figurines In The Regions South Of The Yangtze River

It is well acknowledged that clay toys in the regions south of the Yangtze River have always played an important role in the history of Chinese clay sculpture.In the Song Dynasty,clay children made in Suzhou enjoyed great reputation,and later Hangzhou turned out to be the second center of clay toys,“the Lane of Kids” winning its name for the craft of making clay images.In the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty,Suzhou became rather well-known for the clay figurines,and people went to the bustling Huqiu District to buy clay toys of various kinds.At the same time,Hangzhou continued to be the focus of clay toys,with its clay kids and clay cats being the famous souvenirs.What should be mentioned is that Wuxi,in the neighborhood of Suzhou and Hangzhou,has never ceased to be the center of clay figurines.For hundreds of years,Wuxi has been celebrated for the extraordinary craft of clay figurine making and production system as well.Among the Huishan clay dolls,“Afu”(meaning great blessing)is the most typical work of folk characteristics in the regions south of the Yangtze River,the series of which vary a lot,and are very popular among people for their auspicious wishes.The little Clay Children functions as the reflection of the folk culture in the regions and manifests the historical development of the society in the regions as well.This paper attempts to probe into the history and development of the folk clay toys in the regions south of the Yangtze River with the background of the area,history,and the society.The paper is divided into two parts.Part One: Show of Clay Figurine: the Origin and Development of Folk Clay Toys.Three chapters are included in this part.Firstly,the discussion is about the historical development of the clay toys from the perspective of the regional environment of natural geography in relation to the formation of its exploitation and culture.Secondly,the author intends to do textual researches in the customs and artistic styles of the fashionable clay toys in the Song Dynasty with the help of ancient records and archaeological discoveries.Comparisons will also be made between the spreading and appearances of the clay toys and other images.Lastly,the paper looks into the clay dolls in the regions since the Ming and Qing dynasties,the focus being on the types,crafts,production,transaction,and local customs of the clay toys in Suzhou and Hangzhou cities.It can be said that clay toys making has a long history,and the Song Dynasty is undoubtedly a very crucial period in it.In the Song Dynasty,the art went forward together with the development of the economy,and the making of the clay toys reached its peak.People became enthusiastic about the images for they well matched the customs and the seasons,“Mohele” and “Huangpang” being the masterpieces.When the center of the Song Dynasty moved to the South,a number of craftsmen brought to the South the art of clay kids making,and cities like Hangzhou,Zhenjiang,Suzhou,and Changzhou started to communicate and cooperate with each other.Meanwhile,other clay images also came into being and began to prosper.In the Ming and Qing dynasties,the folk customs developed together with the economy and culture,and the tiny clay dolls blossomed out.In the regions south of the Yangtze River,workshops and markets are relatively centralized,and Huqiu in Suzhou and the Westlake of Hangzhou both enjoy world fame for the production and selling of clay dolls.Part Two: Display of Representative Clay Children in the Regions: Research on Huishan clay figurines in this part is a case study of Huishan clay work – one of the representative folk arts in the regions south of the Yangtze River,and the whole part is divided into four chapters.The first chapter is about regional environment.The author analyzes natural conditions and humanity factors that give birth to Huishan clay figurines and also presents its development history.The second chapter makes investigations into the types and craft of Huishan clay toys,and especially gives detailed description of clay works with unique features.In order to faithfully record the techniques of making clay base and color decoration,the author made careful analysis of the crafts after doing ample fieldworks in the regions.The third chapter is about modeling,coloring and emblazonry of Huishan clay works from the perspective of artistic design,and summarizes artistic features of the clay toys shown in these three aspects.The last chapter explains cultural and aesthetic connotations of Huishan clay figurines.The research concludes that the birth and development of Huishan clay work on the shore of the Taihu Lake relates closely to the local natural geographic environment,and the economic factors and folk customs also play an important role in the development process.Huishan clay work is rich in types and crafts,and the stamping back fits in the characters of toys,meeting the requirements of production and application of folk customs.Seen from the level of modeling,coloring and emblazonry,the creation of Huishan clay figurines follows Chinese traditional view of modeling,coloring and aesthetic consciousness,reflecting a strong relationship with the emotions and pursuits of ordinary people.Over hundreds of years,Huishan clay work,carrying people's sincere hopes and wishes,roots deeply in the life and society of the regions and has made contributions to the formation of diverse folk cultural connotations and aesthetic interests.