The sweet magic of Harbin's sugar figurines

Inheritor is one of few women in the country recognized for art

Children gaped as they watched Wang Chunjing create a lifelike rabbit out of molten maltose in minutes at her stall in Harbin, Heilongjiang province.

Their reactions did not surprise the 32-year-old, who has been blowing sugar figures, a traditional Chinese folk art, for more than a decade.

The process begins with heating sugar syrup, drawing out a small portion, kneading it into a ball with a hollow center, pinching the edges together and stretching it into a tube.

The maker then blows air into the tube and molds the sugar ball into different shapes. "To make a successful piece, I have to do it all in three minutes," Wang said.

Born in Heilongjiang's Qinggang county, she understands the children's reactions because she too once watched in amazement as her father did the same thing when she was a child. "He learned from my grandfather and mastered sugar figurine making to support the family," she said. "But from my perspective as a child, he was more like a magician."