Beijing Women's Federation

Lin Aixing, a representative of Beijing's Jinguangdong Rabbit God painted clay statuette making art, attended a live-stream session of the 2023 Experience Chinese Culture with Qiaoniang (Smart Lady) series event at Beijing Qiaoniang Craftswomen Museum on March 3 to share her story and showcase the handicraft of making rabbit god statuettes.

Beijing Qiaoniang Craftswomen Museum displays 200 pieces of traditional Chinese handicrafts that are on the list of intangible cultural heritage, including the rabbit god statuette, Chinese cloisonne, Jingxiu (Beijing embroidery) and color-painted gourd.

A screenshot of the live-stream program, in which Lin Aixing talks about the craft of rabbit god statuettes

Cultural Exchanges Enhance Mutual Understanding

Lin shifted to focus on rabbit god statuettes making in 2007. She has attended over 20 domestic exhibition events, won many awards in professional competitions, and visited Pakistan, Russia, France and several other countries for cultural exchanges.

During her attendance of an exhibition in Russia, Lin found that the Russian people are deeply interested in the culture of rabbit god and that there are also mythical stories about the moon in Russia though they are different from those of China. The special experience has helped Lin fully grasp the significance of building a community with a shared future for mankind. Therefore, Lin has been thinking over how to promote Beijing's traditional handicrafts among people in other countries. During her attendance in the live-streamed program, Lin also extended festive greetings and sincere wishes to women worldwide in celebration of International Women's Day.

Several rabbit god statuettes made by Lin Aixing

Original Passion Remains

Lin Aixing speaks about her rabbit god statuettes during the live-stream program.

Lin said that she has developed a keen interest in the making of painted clay sculpture since her childhood. In the early days, she was mainly involved in Peking Opera's facial makeup. Later, Lin followed Shuang Qixiang, a national-level craft art master, to learn the techniques of painting rabbit god figurines. The rabbit god has become a cultural symbol of Beijing and a national intangible cultural heritage. Its history can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Lin said that her decade-long involvement in the making of rabbit god figurines has been mainly sustained by passion and the satisfaction from making the crafts.

Proud of Joining Beijing Smart Lady

Lin Aixing displays her rabbit god statuettes during the live-stream program.

Early in 2007, Lin became one of the Beijing Qiaoniang. With the support of the Beijing Qiaoniang Craftswomen Association, Lin has gained many opportunities to attend exhibitions at home and abroad and visited foreign countries for cultural exchanges during recent years. Lin said that the association seems to be a home and that it has become an ideal platform for many aspirants like her who wish to launch their own business ventures related to traditional Chinese handicrafts.

The Experience Chinese Culture with Qiaoniang (Smart Lady) program was jointly launched by the Beijing Women's Federation (BWF) and Guangming Daily in 2016 to share colorful stories of women in Beijing through the Facebook account of the newspaper. This year the live-stream program was done through the Tik-Tok for the first time to help overseas audience become familiar with the Beijing Qiaoniang Craftswomen Museum and the commitment made by women in Beijing to the promotion and development of traditional Chinese handicrafts. Figures show that the latest episode of the Experience Chinese Culture with Smart Lady program was viewed by 300,000 people online. The live-stream event has been watched by international audiences 11.58 million times since its inauguration in 2016.