Heritage
Clay figurine
(chinaculture.org)
Updated: 2008-03-21 11:02
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The colorful figurines fall into three categories, namely, clay toys in the shapes of animals, hanging clay decorations, facial make up, tiger and lion heads, and standing figurines derived from folk and historical tales. The figurines cover a wide-range of subjects, ranging fromfacial makeup, folklore, historical stories and rural life, to animals with more than 170 designs. Their bold and short shapes are heavily exaggerated.
In recent years, with the development of China's tourism industry, Fengxiang's clay figurines have become one of Shaanxi's most famous travel souvenirs.
Ⅳ. Nigugu in Xun county
Declarer: Xun county, Henan province
Xun county is located in the north of Henan province in the center of China. It is famous for clay toys called Nigugu, literally known as clay figurines that can make sounds. These clay figurines are in general manufactured to memorialize the ancestors and to offer sacrifices to the later ones.
It is said that at the end of the Sui Dynasty (581-618), peasant uprising troops were stationed in Xun county (called Liyang town at that time). Some of the soldiers were good at making clay figurines, and in their free time they made many clay figures and horses in memory of those that had died in battle. Later, some of the soldiers were left in Xun county, together with their clay handicrafts, now known as Nigugu (Ni means clay).
The clay figurines are toys that make noise and are quite small, 20 centimeters at the largest or as small as four or five centimeters. Each figurine has at its end two little holes, which make a noise that sounds like "gu-gu" when being blown. Hence the name Nigugu.
The basic contents of Nigugu cover three main categories, namely, human figures from historical stories and operas, and more than 100 varieties of animals and fowl. The tools used for making the clay figures are rather simple, mainly molded bamboo tubes and sticks.
