Mount Tai sugar painting adds joy to Spring Festival

Li Qingwu, from Tai'an, East China's Shandong province, is a fifth-generation inheritor of Mount Tai sugar painting. Every year, he receives large orders of sugar paintings during Spring Festivals to add a jubilant atmosphere to the holiday.

Sugar painting is usually made with melted brown or white sugar. It can not only be eaten but also visually intriguing.

Sugar painting has no manuscript, and artists have to create the designs of figures such as animals or flowers mentally and paint them on a stone board with the syrup. After the sugar cools down, the piece of art is finished.

Li takes only a spoon, an electric cooker and an aluminum plate with him when he starts his masterpiece. According to Li, operating the cooker to know when the sugar is just right for creating his artwork comes down to his years of skills and experience.

According to the Chinese zodiac, 2022 is the Year of the Tiger, so the sugar paintings of Tiger shape sell quite well during the holiday.

"As the Year of the Tiger approaches, I hope to incorporate my blessings into all of my tiger sugar paintings," Li said.