Huishan Clay Figurine Workshops

The Huishan Clay Figurine Workshops are a set of craft studios and a gallery on Huishan Old Street in Liangxi District, Wuxi, Jiangsu province, devoted to the Huishan clay figurine, a national-level piece of intangible cultural heritage. The craft is traditionally traced to the Ming dynasty, when local clay from the foot of Huishan was moulded into small figures sold at temple fairs and to pilgrims. Two main types developed: finely hand-modelled figures of opera characters, historical figures and children, and mass-produced moulded toys painted in bright colours, of which the best known is the plump boy figure called Ah Fu. The workshops and gallery display historic and contemporary figurines, explain the stages of digging, kneading and moulding the clay, drying, whitening with a base coat and painting, and let visitors watch craftspeople at work. Many studios occupy old buildings among the ancestral halls of Huishan Ancient Town, so the craft is shown in its original neighbourhood. The curatorial approach is hands-on and thematic rather than chronological, combining a gallery of masterworks with demonstration benches. Workshop sessions let visitors paint or model their own figure for a fee, typically from about CNY 60. Conservation efforts focus on training younger craftspeople and documenting traditional designs. A visit takes one to two hours and combines naturally with the ancestral halls, Jichang Garden and the nearby Second Spring Under Heaven.