Pucheng Sugar Blowing Skills: Weinan Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Project

Pucheng county, Weinan City is located in the east of Guanzhong Plain, Shaanxi Province, with flat terrain and rich products. There are many tombs of emperors in the Tang Dynasty, and exquisite sugar sculptures are offered during the annual sacrifice. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were sugar workshops in towns and villages in Pucheng County, and sugar blowers were everywhere in the market, which became a folk art integrating artistry, appreciation and edibility.

On February 15, 2022, during the Lantern Festival, Weinan Museum held an event and invited Shi Youliang from Pucheng County to show you the skills of sugar blowers. Under the arrangement of the leader, I cooperated with Shi Youliang and successfully completed the skill demonstration of the sugar blower. From two o'clock in the afternoon to ten o'clock in the evening, Shi Youliang kept blowing hundreds of sugar people. During the period, it attracted a large number of people to watch and was very popular with children.

In 20 15, the skill of sugar blower became an intangible cultural heritage project in Pucheng county, and Shi Youliang became the inheritor of this skill. 201September 9 1 1 Pucheng's sugar blowing skill was listed in the sixth batch of municipal intangible cultural heritage protection list by Weinan Municipal People's Government. Since then, the sugar blower has become an important business card in Pucheng County.

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A set of stoves, a piece of caramel and a big pot can make a sugar man! The sugar used by Shi Youliang is Pucheng malt maltose made of pure grain, which is brown in color and natural and harmless. Rub it repeatedly in a hot pot, pull out a hollow sugar tube, and blow it hard with your mouth, and the sugar will expand like a balloon. Then while blowing and pulling, various images stand out. Finally, cut off the sugar tube and insert the bamboo stick, and the exquisite sugar man will be ready!

With the development of the activity, more and more people watched, and the children were curious about the sugar blower. So, Shi Youliang invited some children, and under his guidance, he blew himself a sugar man. When the sugar was ready, Shi Youliang pulled out the sugar tube and gave one end of the tube to the children to try to blow into the tube. Later, the children watched the sugar swell and their eyes were full of joy. After several tugs by the master foodie, he became a sugar man!

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I met a sugar blower when I was a child, and I was always curious. Why can I blow sugar? After careful observation, I finally saw a detail: Shi Youliang took the sugar out of the pot, dipped it in a little flour, coated it in the sugar, and then rubbed it into a ball, like a glutinous rice ball. Finally, the sugar tube is pulled out without sealing, and a cavity is formed inside the sugar ball.

According to legend, caramel originated in the Western Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 3,000 years. Later, in the process of continuous development, a variety of folk crafts such as caramel blow molding appeared. There is a record of "Sugar Blowing Girl" in Liang Lumeng in the Southern Song Dynasty. This statement originated in the Han Dynasty, was stereotyped in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and was popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

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At present, there are people blowing sugar all over the country, and Henan Province and Jiangsu Province have also announced this skill as a local intangible cultural heritage. However, the history and forms of sugar blowers are slightly different from place to place. The sugar blowers in Shaanxi are rough and heroic, showing the simple atmosphere of the northwest people.

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Shi Youliang, a gourmet master, is good at playing the sugar man of 12 zodiac, playing different images of different ages. At the same time, combined with folk stories and customs, he blew out the unique works of sugar man, such as the weasel pulling the chicken, the fine dog driving the rabbit, the mouse stealing oil, and the long worm sucking the toad. In this activity, in order to show the style of Weinan Museum, we suggest that Shi Youliang blow some precious cultural relics collected here. Among them, the most representative is the Neolithic pottery-