In Shanghai, there is an 80-year-old man named Fei Yongquan who paints eggshells day after day. His works involve well-known figures and facial masks from Peking Opera, such as figures from The Legend of Deification, Water Margin, and The Three Kingdoms, Guangzhou Daily reported.
Over the past 10 years, nearly 3,000 eggshells have turned into lifelike portraits by his hands. In 2016, he was selected as one of the city's 100 handicraft experts.
"I paint on this eggshell to promote our traditional opera culture. Time allows it, and as long as my body is able, I will keep drawing," Fei told Guangzhou Daily.
Walking into Fei's home, what first comes into view is his collection of traditional art hanging on the wall: papercuts, scent bags and of course, Fei's own eggshell paintings.
In the early days, he kept these paintings in his yard, but now they are carefully wrapped up and neatly piled on the shelves.
Fei's hobby originated from his love of Peking Opera. Born in 1939 in East China's Zhejiang Province, Fei used to watch opera with his father when he was young. The Peking Opera was his favorite.
After his retirement in 2000, Fei often took his wife, who also loved the opera, to see it performed at local salons. Due to his southern accent, Fei's pronunciation is not accurate. However, his passion for Peking Opera never eased.
"After I retired, I had plenty of free time devoted to the opera and I was thinking about a medium to link me with this art," Fei told Guangzhou Daily.
Inspired by breakfast
One day, as Fei was eating eggs for breakfast and fumbling with an intact eggshell in his hand, an idea came to mind. "Doesn't it look like someone's profile?"
Since then, Fei, who had no formal education or experience in painting, began to think about painting on the eggshell.
However, as eggshells are extremely fragile and smooth, painting on them was not as easy as he originally thought. Every morning Fei would sit at his bedside table, which was filled with various paints and tools, and experiment.
As he failed again and again, eggs started to become daily dishes on his dinner table. His wife was annoyed about having to eat eggs everyday, but could not tear this stubborn old man away from his new hobby. Fei is not someone who gives up easily.
Recalling the first days of learning this art, Fei said he was self-taught. "Doing more research; asking professionals for lessons; reading more books," he told Guangzhou Daily, making light of his efforts. In the end, Fei succeeded.
Not for sale
Looking at the mountains of eggshells in his home, Fei's wife laughs and shakes her head. "These are all his treasures. He has turned our home into a garbage dump with his egg stock," she complained while admitting that she still feels happy for her husband.
Over the past 13 years, thousands of eggshells have been transformed into opera masks under his brushes. Fei's eggshell paintings appear in complete sets, four to a dozen, which makes up an intact play.
For him, these egg treasures are not only pieces of art but also a cultural heritage. Indeed, as time passed by, Fei gained a reputation, with art collectors and opera fans asking to pay for his works.
However Fei insists on not selling for profit and just gives away his art to those who really appreciate it.
"Painting eggshells is spiritual sustenance for an old man like me and a way to spread our traditional Chinese culture," he explained. "As long as people like and appreciate my work, I will be happy to give it to them as a souvenir."
Volunteer teacher
In 2012, Fei set up an eggshell painting course at his local community cultural center, which was included in the extra curriculum courses for fifth-grade students of Minhang district, making Fei a volunteer teacher.
Now in his 80s, Fei is still shuttling between home and the classroom twice a week, regardless of the weather. His family thinks he is too old to go back and forth like that, as it takes him more than half an hour to commute each way and up to four hours to teach.
Sometimes Fei's throat is hoarse after a day's lecture. Despite his family's best efforts to dissuade him, Fei told Guangzhou Daily, "I will keep teaching until I find someone to replace me."
"He is obsessed with eggshell painting. When we go out and see interesting facial makeups, he always urges me to take pictures so that he can make an eggshell painting of it," Fei's wife said while shaking her head with a smile.
"He just likes doing this."
