(ECNS) -- A white porcelain sculpture of Princess Yushu, a character from Jackie Chan's 2005 fantasy film The Myth, has become the centerpiece of an exhibition in Shanghai, its creation inspired by a father's bet with his teenage son.
The work, titled Myth, is displayed at the WorldSkills Museum's "CHINA White" exhibition. The statue features flowing robes and hair strands so finely detailed that visitors often doubt they are porcelain. Its translucent gown measures just 0.2 millimeters thick, while individual strands of hair are about 0.3 millimeters in diameter.
The artist, Lian Deli, is a master ceramist and recognized inheritor of Dehua porcelain, a craft dating back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
He began the project after his son, who often skipped classes, challenged him to make the princess sculpture. Months of testing hundreds of clay formulas led to a breakthrough that allowed ultra-thin sheets to be fired without cracking. The son kept his word and returned to school.
Together with his wife Zeng Bizhen, Lian refined the technique and secured a national invention patent. The finished sculpture, standing 72 centimeters tall, has been permanently acquired by both the National Museum of China and the Shanghai Art Museum.
"Inheritance is not about replication, but about evolving with the times," Lian said. "True education is not one-way indoctrination, but two-way communication through empathy."
(By Zhang Dongfang)
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