He Lusheng, a provincial inheritor of rice dough, who held a rice ball, guided the contestants to make rice dough while explaining to visitors. Participants took glutinous rice and japonica rice flour as materials, and made rice balls into auspicious shapes like zodiac animals through kneading, rubbing and other techniques, which were then embellished with natural pigments extracted from Chinese herbs. 

 

 

This technique originated from the worship of ancient Shennong and has evolved over thousands of years into modern aesthetics of life. At the event, He Lianhua, from the adult group, won the first prize with such animal designs as dragon, snake and rabbit. Zhou Zifan won the gold medal in the children’s category with his dynamic creativity. 

 

“The offerings on the altar in the past have now become teaching materials for children’s art education classes.” He Lusheng said that since it was included in the provincial intangible cultural heritage list in 2012, Anren county has cultivated many minor inheritors through the project of “promoting intangible cultural heritage in schools”. 

 

 

A folk experience area was set up, allowing visitors to observe how the contestants created rice dough and make simple rice dough themselves.

 

In recent years, the county government has organized rice dough competitions and launched the project of promoting intangible cultural heritage in schools, allowing more people to participate in and understand the intangible cultural heritage, cultivating a large number of young inheritors.

 

The county government has worked to integrate rice dough with rural tourism to promote the vigorous development of rural tourism.

 

Chinese source: czxww