Buns hop off the shelf as chefs display creativity

Wu Yang, a pastry chef in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, is popular on short-video app Douyin because of his creativity in making the lion-head puff pastry.

The cute fluffy lion head, which integrates the intangible cultural heritage of lion dancing, has attracted tens of thousands of people to try to replicate. But success is sometimes elusive. It involves six steps,each boasting a complex technique. If one tiny mistake is made in any step, then the final product fails.

To achieve the vivid effect of the mane on the lion head after deep-frying, Wu has to cut 160 times on the tiny dough without cutting it through.

Wu, 36, whose Chinese zodiac sign is a rabbit, recently created a new puff pastry piece of Tu'er Ye (the rabbit god) wearing a lion head to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit.

According to him, the difficulty level of the rabbit with lion head puff pastry is much higher than just the lion head, as he has to make a half-size lion head, which needs more elaborate operations.

He says he is also planning on creating three to four new rabbit-shaped puff pastry with designs inspired by accessories from Peking Opera.

Having been devoted to Chinese pastry for two decades, Wu says he hopes that, by combining traditional Chinese culture with his puff pastry works, he can attract more young people to find interest in Chinese pastry.