China woman uses 60kg chocolate to craft mini 3D replica of ancient painting, earns 1 million likes

A woman in China with no formal training in the arts has used 60kg of chocolate to make a 3D miniature copy of the famous painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival.A video showing the chocolate version of ancient Bianjing city released by the blogger, who uses the alias Fan Sumu, in late May has garnered about one million likes, Jimu News reported.The masterpiece was painted by Zhang Zeduan of Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), is among the best known artworks in Chinese history.A boat sailing under a bridge packed with people shows the detail involved in Fan Sumu’s work. Photo: ctdsb.netThe handscroll, which is 25.5cm in height and 5.2m long, is celebrated for its vivid and meticulous depiction of people’s daily life and the landscape along the Bian River in Bianjing, the then capital city.Besides chocolate, Fan also used fondant and rice paper to replicate the painting.She actually made a chocolate model copying a small section of the painting last year before spending three months doing a complete version this year.Her work is 1.22m wide and seven metres in length, contains 176 houses, 281 trees, more than 20 boats and 816 people, according to the report.Fan Sumu points proudly at one of her incredible creations. Photo: ctdsb.net“Each house is about 10-20cm tall while the human figures are only 2cm tall. The smallest window is less than 1cm wide,” Fan was quoted as saying.“Ropes, like those used by farmers to pull a cart, are as thin as hair. I put the melted chocolate into a piping bag and squeezed it out to form the ropes before the chocolate solidified,” she said.Fan began her chocolate project in her living room, but soon found that it was too small.She rented a bigger house 25km away. While moving, many of her creations were broken, forcing Fan to restart her work.Another example of Fan Sumu’s carefully crafted artwork, above. Photo: ctdsb.netFan, who was born after 1995, studied international trade at college. She has never attended classes on fine arts.Further ReadingShe was previously a food blogger.Over recent years, Fan created chocolate miniatures of domestic and international constructions such as the Hall of Supreme Harmony in Beijing’s Imperial Palace, the Yingxian Pagoda in China’s northern Shanxi province and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.She also crafted copies of famous paintings with chocolate like China’s One Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains and Leonardo da Vinci’s The Mona Lisa.Fan Sumu puts the finishing touches to a pagoda using a paintbrush. Photo: ctdsb.netThe skills required were learned via online videos, said Fan.Fan said she plans to imitate more Chinese traditional architecture which intrigues her.“I will do more research on this aspect and explore how to let more people understand the traditional architecture,” she said.One internet user said: “I would like to mini-size myself to play around in the chocolate world she creates.”“She is brilliant. She should apply for a world record,” said another person.