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| Hairy Monkey |
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With an air of charming naivety, the hairy monkeys are enormously
popular among old Beijingers. However, for various reasons, the
folk art is facing extinction, as in today's Beijing, only several
artists are well acquainted with the techniques of making hairy
monkeys.
The creation of hairy monkeys was quite an accident. In the Reign
of Emperor Tongzhi (1862-1874), there was a drug store named "South
Qingren Hall." One day, two assistant chemists in the store,
while fiddling with some Chinese medicine, worked out a small monkey-like
toy with a shed cicada skin, a hairy white magnolia bud, a bletilla
striata (the stem of a kind of plant) and an akebi (another kind
of plant).
Their accidental creation caught the attention of the shopkeeper,
who then suggested selling the four Chinese medicines in a pack
as raw materials for making such toys. Hairy monkeys then became
popular as a folk handicraft.
Though the raw materials are quite simple, the artists are capable
of designing exquisite patterns through their observation and perceptual
knowledge of a wide range of images. By using the hairy magnolia
bud as the body, and adhering the head and claws cut from the cicada
to it, they can create artworks of various kinds of shapes and postures.
Modeled on human actions and scenes from daily life, the handicrafts
vividly represent urban life and customs, like barbers, fortune-tellers,
hawkers of sugarcoated haws on a stick and so on. Some of the handicrafts
form a complete set of artworks, such as "The County Magistrate
on Inspection," and "Marriage Series," which were
sometimes available at the stalls of temple fair. In recent years,
additional creations of this handicraft, which, while sticking to
the traditional subjects, also reflects the real modern life.
At the end of Qing dynasty, there was a drug shop in Beijing called
- "NanQingRenTang", one day 2 workers made a small "monkey"
by cicada slough, dried magnolia, the root of Dahurain Angelica
and the last one we ChinaTravelZ don't know the English name. The
drug shop boss also thought it was interesting business, then they
started to envelop the 4 ingredients called "Hairy Monkey Suite"
and sell to the kids. |
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