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10-year-old Chinese girl inherits traditional craft of making glass grapes

(People's Daily Online) 15:39, August 11, 2022

Tang Hantuoya displays a bunch of glass grapes. (Chinanews.com/Zhai Lu)

Tang Hantuoya, a 10-year-old girl in Beijing, frosts glass grapes by covering them with incense ashes at the Huashi Community Museum in the capital city under the instruction of her grandmother, Chang Hong, the fifth-generation inheritor of Grape Chang, a traditional craft of making glass grapes.

Chang then bunched together the realistic-looking juicy grapes, which seem plump, ripe, and ready to eat.

The production processes are both complex and even dangerous at times. The craft consists of 15 procedures, including glass bead blowing, coloring, waxing, and frosting.

Tang Hantuoya and her grandmother make glass grapes. (Chinanews.com/Zhai Lu)

Selected glass is first melted into liquid, after which an iron rod is used to pull out a glass pipe from the liquid. This pipe is then dipped into the glass liquid and used to blow the liquid into hollow glass beads of grape size.

After that, it’s time to make the grape stalks. Cotton paper is rolled over thin iron wire and inserted into the blown beads. The artist must precisely control their strength during this process, because if the strength is lower than required, the iron wire cannot be inserted into the blown beads, but too much strength will break the beads apart and may hurt the artist’s palm.

In 2011, the craft was inscribed on the list of the third batch of national-level intangible cultural heritages in China.

Born in 2012, Tang is the seventh-generation inheritor of Grape Chang. Several years ago, Chang established a studio where she and her sister introduce the craft to visitors interested in learning about this intangible heritage. Since then, Tang can often be found at the studio, where she gradually began to make glass grapes and develop a passion for the craft.

Tang Hantuoya frosts a glass grape. (Chinanews.com/Zhai Lu)

As Tang is still a child, Chang doesn’t allow her to engage in some of the dangerous steps involved in making glass grapes, and instead asks Tang to watch how she makes them.

As an inheritor of the traditional craft, Chang didn’t have to earn a living by making glass grapes. She shares that the traditional craft requires a lot of patience and cannot secure a stable income.

As it has been difficult for Chang to find an apprentice to pass her skills on to, fortunately, her granddaughter is an ideal candidate. According to Chang, Tang is quiet, has talent for hands-on work and an artistic sense when it comes to colors and shapes. Tang has made various clay figurines, such as Bing Dwen Dwen and Shuey Rhon Rhon, official mascots of the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Tang aims to be a student of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, a prestigious university in China. “I want to be a fine arts teacher after graduating from college and pass down the craft of Grape Chang,” Tang said.

Photo shows a glass grape. (Chinanews.com/Zhai Lu)

Grape Chang, first emerging during the reign of Emperor Guangxu (1875-1908) in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), was named after the family Chang, which has been renowned for their excellent craftsmanship in the field.

The craft was first developed by Hanqiharibu. When the Qing dynasty faced decline, Hanqiharibu, who used to live on salary from the government, had to make a living by selling various kinds of fruit out of clay, eventually leading him to make grapes and other fruits out of glass.

Hanqiharibu’s glass grapes were presented as gifts for Empress Dowager Cixi’s 60th birthday. Cixi was pleased with this gift and granted Hanqiharibu the title “Chang Zai,” a blessing literally meaning “always there,” which enabled him to open a business with the endorsement. Hanqiharibu then changed his name to Chang Zai. Subsequently, Grape Chang became well-known in Beijing.