Every time I see the translucent sugar figures, it always brings back a vague and sweet memory of childhood. At that time, watching "blowing sugar figures" was a joy, and playing with "sugar figures" was a happiness.
Last year, while wandering in the old town, I saw an artisan selling "blown sugar figures". This thing had not been seen for many years, so it was quite rare, and I followed a group of people to watch some fun.
The artisan's entire set is just a small wooden box, hanging on the back of a bicycle, with the sugar figure sticks directly inserted into holes on the side of the box cover. He took a small piece of brown cotton candy, inserted a thin tube into the candy block, blew while rotating, and at the same time, his hands pinched, pulled, or stretched, and the candy block gradually swelled like a balloon. In a short time, lively monkeys or roosters would be on his hands, which was truly amazing.
"The Sugar Figure" was born 600 years ago
The master of "blowing sugar figures" is Liu Bowen. It is said that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted his throne to be passed down through generations, so he built the "Meritorious Ministers' Hall" and burned the meritorious ministers. Liu Bowen barely escaped, and was saved by an old man who carried sugar. The two exchanged clothes, and from then on, Liu Bowen lived incognito, carrying the basket day and night, going from street to street.
While selling sugar, Liu Bowen creatively made various sugar figures by heating and softening the sugar, such as little chickens and dogs, which were very cute, and children competed to buy them. On the way, many people asked Liu Bowen to teach them how to blow sugar figures, and he taught them one by one. Thus, this craft spread from one to ten, and ten to a hundred, and now it is said to have a history of more than 600 years.
In the past, people who made a living doing this would carry baskets and go from street to street, and they were indispensable at markets and temple fairs.
One end of the basket was a small cabinet, about the size of a bedside table, with a rectangular wooden frame on both sides. A copper ring in the middle of the frame was tied with a short rope to pass through the pole. The top of the cabinet has a round wooden plate, with radial lines from the center, varying in width, and written with "gourd", "rooster", "Guan Gong", and "monkey" etc. There is a fixed rod in the center of the wooden plate, which is slightly shorter than the diameter of the wooden plate. The top of the rod has a small needle, and when the rod stops turning, the needle points to which grid, you get that prize. The larger the prize, the narrower the grid, and the lower the chance of hitting. The largest grid reads: "two sugar beans," which are smaller than Go stones. Underneath the wooden plate is a drawer, pulling out a marble board used to draw sugar figures. There is a hole in the upper right corner of the cabinet to insert a grass stick, and whether blowing or drawing sugar figures, they are all inserted on top.
The other end of the basket looks similar, but there is no panel, just a small charcoal stove supporting a copper pot, boiling sugar syrup inside, and below that several drawers for storing ingredients, tools, bamboo sticks, and charcoal.
Many artisans can both blow and draw sugar figures. Compared to blowing sugar figures, drawing sugar figures is simpler. First, use an oil felt to gently rub on the marble board, then take a very delicate small copper spoon to scoop a little bit of sugar syrup, tilt it slightly, and the syrup flows slowly. Then lift your hand to form a sugar thread. As your wrist moves up and down, left and right, each person or animal or flower appears on the marble board. When it cools and sets, put two dots of syrup on the sugar figure, then press the bamboo stick upwards and it's done. Finally, insert it into the grass stick and it's completed.
