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Post-80s man recreates 400 time-honored miniature buildings

(People's Daily Online) 11:10, November 12, 2021

Li Shousheng, a post-80s craftsman from Jinan, east China's Shandong province, has been engaged in recreating miniature buildings for around a decade. His handiworks perfectly depict the elements and details of nearly 400 time-honored architectural wonders.

One of Li Shousheng’s miniature houses. (Photo/chinanews.com)

Li’s studio is an epitome of a typical craftsman’s workshop, replete with all its trappings -- tools, paints, moulds and his exquisite miniature works featuring houses, brick houses, seaweed houses, cave dwellings, and courtyards, among others.

When it comes to his original intention for creating scale models, Li recalled that the inspiration came from a course on miniatures he attended during university. The positive feedback from his teacher ignited his enthusiasm for making crafts and empowered him to take it his lifetime career.

A scene from a TV drama that Li reproduced. (Photo/chinanews.com)

“Memories are intangible, while these miniatures of old buildings can tell stories behind these memories,” said Li, who like others has witnessed the hectic lifestyle of the modern world.

By making these scale models, Li became acquainted with customers from all over the country, most of whom are from the post-70s, post-80s, and post-90s generations. In Li's mind, while offering his clients a view into miniature worlds, he has also helped them to conjure up memories of the good old days.

Photo shows Li's handicrafts. (Photo/chinanews.com)

Li mentioned that one of his clients, a post-90s girl, once entrusted him to reproduce an old courtyard, one where a dinner party was held to celebrate her first month of birth, in the hope of sending the scale model as a birthday gift to her grandfather. After receiving this special present, the old man was so moved, with the model reminding him of many sweet memories.

Despite many obstacles during the entrepreneurial process, Li’s efforts eventually paid off -- he received lots of favourable comments from his customers, which further enhanced his confidence to stick to his little business. “I want to record the changes of time through my handicrafts,” said Li.