Niejiazhuang Village in Weifang is famous for colored clay sculpture handicraft (泥塑手工艺), which dates back to the Ming Dynasty. The Weifang government has (encourage) local people to learn traditional handicraft and make more money to get rid of poverty(脱贫).
Nie Peng (be) a young villager in Niejiazhuang. He is crazy about clay sculpture handicraft. He began learning it from his father when he was child. He has led lots of young craftsmen (手艺人) in and near (he) village to make colored clay sculptures and the handicraft has become an important way for local people to get (rich) than before.
The tiger is a typical subject for colored clay sculptures. Nie (start) to learn to make clay tigers in 2010, the Year of the Tiger. Over these years, he has seen the development of the art form. first, the clay tigers were all of the same small size. Now there are tigers of different (size) and the largest can be over two meters tall. The tigers used to be colored pink and green, but now have become more colorful.
Today Nie cares for the future of clay sculpture handicraft encourages young craftsmen to create more works. He (real) hopes that the sculpture handicraft will be passed down to the next generation.
