In next to no time, clay sculptor Ren Jian creates lifelike figures of human subjects with strikingly real facial expression. The secret, Ren says, is in the eyes.

Clad in dirty sleeves, the 39-year-old stands beside a work table on the second floor of the Art and Craft Mansion in Wanfujing Street.

A work themed on playing Chinese chess by Ren Jian. Photo by Jiang Dong

Ren is sculpting the face of an employee of the mansion who is well-known among visitors for her friendly smile and sincere service. He uses a thin iron to slice the clay and mold her curved eyebrows and eyeballs.

The craft master said the most important aspect of his work was to reflect the character's inner world by her eyes. To this end, Ren has spent three days observing his model's eyes as they react to different occasions.

His effort pays off, with the employee later holding the sculpture in awe. "It is so vivid that this is the very shape of my eye when I smiled, nearly like a half moon," she said.

Ren, of Datong in Shanxi Province, has honed his skill to lightning-quick pace over 20 years. "The shortest time I spent on sculpting a TV anchor's head was just three minutes," he said.

Ren quit his good job at a local electricity supply department two years ago and came to the capital to focus on his passion as a career. He did not foresee his workshop would be crowded with visitors eager to have him render their likeness.

"Since I was a small child of 3 years old, I always played with clay in the back yard of our house," said Ren. "I became interested in molding various animals as soon as I saw their images on TV and films during my child hood."

Ren's sculptures are distinguished from the work of other clay masters by their romantic charm and expression. Most of his sculptures mirror the daily life of people in the countryside or draw on the theme of characters in Chinese literature classics.

He took out a series of clay figurines depicting a group of people playing Chinese chess, a popular village scene in summer days. Visitors could easily distinguish the player who is most likely to win the game by his expression.

Ren uses a kind of clay transported from his hometown. He said clay from some suburbs of Beijing was also suitable, but needed some treatment such as the addition of glue or fibers.

"Clay is such cheap material that everyone could have a try," said Ren. To present the image of people living in the countryside, he also inserted some husked hemp stalks into the clay to reflect the rustic flavor.

Ren said clay sculpting originated from clan society, and was an important communication tool. One Chinese legend holds that humans were created by Nwa, a Chinese fairy, with clay.

He sells each small head sculpture for around 100 yuan, while a large body sculpture costs 300 yuan.