Millet is an important grain in northern China. In the early 2000s, carbonized millet grains were found in Aohan Banner of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. This discovery suggests that millet had been a staple food there for about 8,000 years. In order to introduce Aohan millet to a wider market, Wang Xuefei, a returning college student and entrepreneur, drew inspiration from traditional Chinese shadow puppets. He used millet to create a series of stop-motion animations.