Folk artist brings fresh look to Asian Games

Lu Liqing, a folk artist in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, has recently produced artistic works combining sugar paintings and paper-cutting with the elements of the upcoming Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games.

Located in the city's Shangcheng district, Lu's studio presents kites with Asian Games mascots, a spiral windmill with the Asian Games logo and handicrafts depicting the national flowers of countries participating in the Games.

Among the works, a paper-cutting from Lu called Welcome to Hangzhou, brings traditional Chinese paper-cutting to a more creative and modern level.

The square paper-cutting, with a side length of 70 centimeters, has a big lotus at the center, representing the opening and closing ceremonies and the track and field events. It features the event's mascots, logo and landmarks of the three World Cultural Heritage sites in Hangzhou — West Lake cultural landscape, the Grand Canal and the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu city.

Lu said it took about two months to finish the work: "Paper-cutting is not hard, but its design highlighting the spirit of the Games is difficult," he said.

Before that, he created a paper-cutting scroll 4.8 meters long and 60 centimeters wide portraying the history of the Games. It features various elements of

past events, including the host city, date, logo, mascots and slogans.

"The creative process also allows me to fully understand the history of the Asian Games over the past decades. Then I added my understanding of the spirit of the Games into creating this paper-cutting scroll," Lu said.

Lu has joined hands with more than 40 inheritors of intangible cultural heritage to better understand history and preserve traditions.

The Asian Games will take place between Sept 23 and Oct 8 in Hangzhou and five other cities in Zhejiang province this year — Ningbo, Wenzhou, Jinhua, Shaoxing and Huzhou.