In Sichuan Province of southwestern China, it is common to see folk artists producing sugar paintings along the street sides, in the parks, and around the schools. The artists use the bronze spoon and shovel as their tools, and a slab of marble as the “paper”. Liquid brown sugar or white sugar is their favored material.

The artists normally sit before a wooden stand where there is a polished slab of marble in the middle. On the side there is a wooden plate with a revolvable bamboo arrow on it. The plate is painted with various patterns in a circle such as a Chinese dragon, bird, dog, flower basket and so forth. After paying about 1 or 2 yuan, the customers, normally kids, turn the arrow and wait till it stops. The pattern pointed by the arrow is the one the artist must form with sugar.

To acquire liquid sugar, the painter has to cook sugar granules in a pot before painting. The liquid sugar falls down as a thin thread onto the “paper” from the slanting spoon. After a short while, a 2-d animal is created. Then the painter separates the painting from the marble with a shovel, puts a wooden prod on the painting, and gives it to the kid. In the sunshine, holding the shining sugar painting when walking along the street, the child is proud and happy.

As a unique art for producing works entirely composed of sugar, sugar painting is very different from normal paintings. Firstly, since liquid sugar could solidify if it cools, the painter has to produce the work very quickly. Second, the painter has to follow some orders of strokes and draw a continuous line into a picture of an animal or other pattern.

Sugar painting originated from the Ming Dynasty when sugar figures were made in molds as part of a sacrifice in religious rituals. In the Qing Dynasty, sugar painting gained more popularity. The molds were also replaced with a small bronze spoon. As time passed by, the contemporary form of sugar painting has gradually evolved.

Although the number of sugar painters has decreased, due to its unique charm, a certain number of artists are making sustained efforts to preserve it by offering classes, and holding relevant activities such as sugar painting contests.

Nowadays, this art is garnering support again. It has already been listed as Provincial Non-Tangible Cultural Heritage by the Sichuan Government.