For the general masses, cultural artifacts may often seem antiquated and distant, yet a gifted few are able to exert their imagination and bring the objects vividly to life by capturing their essence through artistic expression.
Illustrator Yuyuqing, as one of them, has found her own way of giving traditional cultural elements a modern touch with her ability to transform static objects into aesthetically pleasing characters.
From the different varieties of tea leaves, she sees a group of youths from ancient China, each with a unique appearance and personality. And from China's abundant resources of archaeological artifacts, she envisions ethereal, gallant or imperial characters, inviting viewers to explore their captivating stories, all grounded in Chinese history.
On her social media accounts, she has been posting her digital illustrations, winning millions of followers and many requests for collaboration or to use her works in cultural merchandise, including China's well-received archaeological TV program National Treasure.
Yuyuqing says that, although she always loved animation and drawing from an early age, for years she kept her passion at bay and chose, instead, a stable job working in a bank.
In 2018, her son's kindergarten hosted a drawing competition. Helping her son with his entry rekindled her love for the art form, and she started taking courses in watercolor and portraiture.
She resigned from her job in 2020 with the goal of becoming a freelance illustrator, taking illustration courses and creating several series of paintings to accumulate experience and build her portfolio.
So far, her subjects include tea, mythical creatures, ceramics and cultural artifacts, all representative elements of traditional Chinese culture.
"I have always been captivated by traditional culture, and this interest led me to start painting about it. It's a natural and serendipitous process of mutual attraction," she says.
One of her iconic illustrations is from her cultural artifact series, featuring a relic unearthed in 1970 — a silver incense burner with patterns of grapes, flowers and birds, now kept at Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, Shaanxi province.
The incense burner is ingeniously designed with a gyroscopic structure, comprising a three-axis gimbal (pivot) that is set so that it keeps the hemispherical incense holder at the center of the burner horizontal at all times. Even if the ornament is dangled from a belt, the incense inside would not spill out.
In Yuyuqing's rendition, a young woman dressed in hanfu (a style of traditional Chinese attire) is shown to be dancing, with the incense burner floating in midair above her hand.
"At the time, a few of my followers mentioned this artifact to me, so I started researching it. Not only does it look particularly intricate and exquisite, but it also moves me greatly with the history connected to it," she says.
The Old Book of Tang records that, after Yang Yuhuan, known as Yang Guifei, an imperial consort of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), was sentenced to death, the emperor sent an official to check her tomb, who reported back that "the skin has decayed but the incense burner remains".
When the object was featured on National Treasure, archaeologist Qi Dongfang said that the incense burner artifact is of the same kind that belonged to Yang.
中报二十一世纪(北京)传媒科技有限公司版权所有,未经书面授权,禁止转载或建立镜像。 主办单位:中国日报社 Copyright by 21st Century English Education Media All Rights Reserved 版权所有 复制必究 网站信息网络传播视听节目许可证0108263 京ICP备2024066071号-1京公网安备 11010502033664号