Li Ranran: Best 3D sugar paintings are for friends

Li Ranran makes a sugar lotus flower. (Photo by Wang Yunya/Yunnan Daily)

“This is where mount Tai rose to the sky. This is where the Yellow River pours into the sea. This is where Confucius was born. Welcome to Shandong, China!” said the person in charge of Shandong’s exhibition area.

Though not large the area is, it comprehensively shows Shandong province in north China. Exhibitors of Shandong prepared a lot for the 2023 China International Travel Mart (CITM) from Nov.17 to 19.

“I started to learn sugar painting when I was 12,” said Li Ranran from Tai’an city in Shandong province. As the sixth generation of inheritors for sugar painting, Li makes 3D figures with just a pot of boiling sugar, a spoon and a small spade.

Participating the mart this year also marks Li’s first time to Yunnan province. “I’ve always dreaming about coming to Kunming, now I made it! In such a beautiful place, I will make beautiful sugar paintings to friends here for sure,” said Li.

She also wanted to stay in Yunnan for a few days more after the mart to see Dianchi Lake and experience the many-splendored Yunnan life.

“My forefathers made flat paintings, but I got inspiration from Chinese shadow puppetry, dough modeling, clay figurine and even light clay works,” said Li.

A 3D lotus flower takes her two hours, and the temperature of boiling sugar should be well commanded. Great skills are required in making the works of pearly luster.

Shandong brought to the mart more than 800 exhibits and some replicas of its well-known cultural relics. Inheritors of intangible cultural heritages from the province also performed on the mart.

Source: Yunnan Daily; trans-editing by Wang Yunya