Zibo tiger ceramics add zest to arrival Spring Festival

To welcome the upcoming Chinese Year of the Tiger, the Boshan district of Zibo city – located in East China's Shandong province – has been busy producing tiger-shaped ceramics to add zest to the jubilant atmosphere of the upcoming Chinese New Year's holiday.

The stylish and dazzling tiger figures can be presented as a New Year's gift when visiting friends and relatives – or they can be placed in the home to bring good luck.

"The tiger zodiac sign is a symbol of strength and longevity," said Sun Yunhao, a ceramics master craftsman in Shandong province.

"My work adopts the classic shape of the tiger on traditional Chinese clothing and the red-orange color aims to give people a feeling of joy and warmth," he added.

Zhou Zuyi, an inheritor of the Boshan raindrop ceramics glaze – which employs a special firing technique to give the pieces radial raindrop-shaped crystals with a silver luster – has also designed work for the Chinese New Year.

Another zodiac cultural product combines Chinese cultural elements and modernity. Designer Xu Lei has been inspired by his childhood playmates, to design special figures that sport hats or shoes with tiger images.

His colored glaze work is first fashioned by blow molding, then he carves the faces and does hand-painting, before firing the ceramics.