The craft of making painted clay-figurines of Fengxiang has a recorded history of more than 3,000 years.
The images of clay figurines typically included flowers, birds, fish, insects, as well as auspicious birds and beasts, reflecting cultural characteristics of ancient China. The figurines are painted with such bright colors and traditionally each color has a special meaning. Green represents longevity; red means a flourishing year. Also each design painted has meaning: pomegranate represents happiness and prospers offspring; butterfly brings good fortune; peony represents fortune and luck.
The figurines are made of local clay, which was mixed with pulp and painted after it was shaped. The colors of Fengxiang figurines are extremely bright, and with intensive contrasts. With a black outline, they are primarily scarlet, green and yellow.
The figurines have a wide-range of subjects, including facial makeup, folklore, historical stories, rural life and others. In recent years, with the development of China’s tourism, Fengxiang’s clay - figurines have become one of the Shaanxi’s important travel souvenirs.