Light fora new year

A set of animal lanterns made of bean flour features the 12 animal signs of the Chinese zodiac, or shengxiao.

So the production started later.

"The wholesalers are requiring more," he says. "But as they are all entirely handmade, we could produce no more than 30,000 lanterns before each Lantern Festival."

Their only daughter also gives a hand during her winter vacation. But she says she is not going to follow in her parents' footsteps.

"I will not make a living from it. But maybe someday I will learn it for my own interest," says Chen Cong, a junior in college majoring in Japanese.

Every year, her parents earn about 80,000 yuan from the lanterns. That is quite high among the villagers, who earn an average annual income of 17,000 yuan each.

In addition to the 12 Chinese horoscope animals, Chen sculpts some new images. For example, he makes a sea cucumber that sea-cucumber farmers can light while praying for a good harvest.

"People's living standards are improving. Folk artists should innovate accordingly," says Chen.