Crafting a world at his fingertips

Dough figurines Lang Jiaziyu made based on the Chinese animated short film series Yao-Chinese Folktales. CHINA DAILY

Inheriting his family's renowned legacy for making dough figurines, Lang Jiaziyu is injecting new creativity and cultural elements into the craft, ensuring its popularity stays forever young, Meng Wenjie reports.

"Can I ask a big favor?" Prince Albert II of Monaco asked a young Chinese craftsman standing behind a booth with various dough figurines on display. The prince invited the young man to make an extra figurine so that he could present a figurine to each of his two children after being amazed by the artistry involved in molding dough figurines.

This was at a demonstration of China's intangible cultural heritage held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing during the 2022 Winter Olympics. And the young man was Lang Jiaziyu, born in 1995, a third-generation inheritor of Beijing "Dough Figurine Lang". The surname "Lang" is attached to the figurine as a traditional way in China to convey gratitude for the family's substantial contributions to the craft.