Small wonders

A master craftsman bring Confucius and other characters of Chinese history to life in deftly shaped dough, Deng Zhangyu discovers.

When small figurines of ancient Chinese celebrities like Confucius are on display in the United States, the Americans think they are made by molding machines. They'd be surprised to watch Zhang Baolin, who makes these finger-size dough characters by hand.

Zhang is a master craftsman of dough figurine making (miansu in Chinese), a traditional folk art that is more than 1,000 years old. All his life, the devoted dough sculptor has immersed himself in the world of creating countless figurines.