During the 2026 Chinese New Year, in the historic alleyways of Nanluoguxiang in Beijing, an old craftsman shaped sugar with his fingers while a little girl gently blew into it. Soon, a vivid monkey came to life. This warm interaction between the young and the old breathes new life into the traditional sugar-figurine blowing craft.

Sugar-figurine blowing is a traditional Chinese folk art that creates delicate figures from maltose through blowing and hand-shaping. It was added to China's second national list of intangible cultural heritage in 2008.