Shanxi sculptor brings clay to life

The master was strict with his trainees. At first, Jia was assigned the most tiring work, that of preparing the clay, and was not allowed to do anything more advanced-not even simple tasks like polishing the clay.

In fact, he didn't learn any skills or techniques for three years, by which time observation had given him the knowledge he needed to learn more advanced techniques and skills. The master would often tell apprentices that the process of training a sculptor was similar to the process of making a sculpture. It first required good quality raw materials, like the clay (the basic skills), and then needed to be formed through proper modeling, polishing, and painting (the advanced skills).

When his son was born in late 2010, Jia bid farewell to his master and began to work on his own making clay figurines. This is when he met his most important teacher, Fan Yongliang, a master of clay sculpture-making.

"He felt like an old friend from our first meeting," Fan said, recalling his encounter with the young man. "It is more accurate to say that I am both his tutor and his friend."

Fan felt it was important to give Jia the guidance to ensure that his talent, skill and passion for the intangible cultural heritage could later be passed down to future generations.

As a result of Fan's tutoring, Jia made quick progress, both in terms of his ability and his creative concepts. He began to tell stories from his hometown's history by using clay figurines in vivid clay settings.

One of his masterpieces, The Return of the Shanxi Merchants, consists of nearly 160 miniatures, including camels, bodyguards, merchants, horses and goods. It portrays the hustle and bustle of a company of traveling merchants returning home from the region north of the Great Wall during the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).