In Heilongjiang, Russian dolls take on panda forms
Print Edition
Matryoshka dolls usually appear in the form of pretty girls. In China, however, the traditional Russian dolls also take the form of giant pandas.
With dark circles around their eyes and a bundle of bamboo in their hands, the nine chubby pandas of decreasing sizes are placed inside one another.
The panda matryoshka dolls are the creation of Yu Honglong, owner of a workshop in Yimianpo Township in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province.
“I have been making these dolls for more than 10 years, and the pandas are my signature product,” he said. “By incorporating matryoshka dolls and our national treasure, I think I have covered an empty spot in the market.”
Yu’s panda dolls have brought in yearly revenue of at least 100,000 yuan (US$15,145).
Yimianpo is a major production base for matryoshka dolls in China, with yearly sales volume of about 15 million sets. In the early 20th century, many Russians settled in the town, and introduced the craftsmanship of producing matryoshka dolls to the Chinese.
Yu learned the skill from local craftsmen, but gradually grew bored with the “foreign faces”. So he found pictures of pandas and started making panda matryoshka dolls instead.
During the production process, the wooden dolls have to be engraved and painted. Zhang Yunlai, one of Yu’s staff, is in charge of painting the pandas. She paints hundreds of dolls each day.
As the nine dolls in each set of panda matryoshka must look identical, Zhang is very careful with every stroke of her paintbrush. “The shape of each panda’s eyes and mouth is engraved in my heart,” she said.
Yu said the panda dolls were often bought by businessmen in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang, and also sold by shops in big cities or on e-commerce platforms. Each set can fetch as much as 50 yuan.
“I think people buy the dolls because they admire them as art, and for the giant pandas,” Yu said. “I am really happy about it.”
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