CALL OF A CRAFT

Tantou-style pictures provide a flavor of Chinese New Year and carry the historical memory of the town where they are made, Yang Feiyue reports.

A fresh scent of soil wafts in the air around the Gaolamei workshop in early March. Rows of wet paper made from bamboo hang on a thread and glitter with a tint of yellow under the light at the facility located in Tantou town, Longhui county, Central China's Hunan province.

At a long table there, a young woman is busy with Tantou-style New Year pictures, a folk craft that has been carried forward by Zhong Xinglin's family for four generations.

She has been working on a series of rabbit figures following the style that can be traced to the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). As part of traditional Chinese culture, Tantou-style New Year pictures feature auspicious figures and elements from folklore that carry people's prayers for good fortune, guardianship and prosperity in a new year.