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Traditional handicrafts:love them while they last(2)

2011-12-16 15:54    Ecns.cn     Web Editor: Xu Aqing
Threading (kai mian)

Threading (kai mian)

3) Sugar-coated figurine

Slightly different from sugar art (making figurines from super-heated sugar) this technique is to take the hot sugar as it starts to bubble up and pull it quickly over a template - thus, your sugar coated figurine.

This was a magical food-toy for Chinese children for 600 years, before being superseded in their affections by modern technology and numerous entertainments. In some temple fairs held annually in northern China, you may still find these treats.

4) Threading (kai mian)

Instead of waxing, Chinese women used threading, the ancient beauty technique for removing fine hairs on the face which includes eyebrows, upper lip, chin, cheek and whole- face threading.

The practice originated in the Sui industry 1,500 years ago, and has played a vital role in the country's wedding traditions - for the bride-to-be, threading was a rite of passage to adulthood.

Unlike waxing which irritates the skin, threading removes facial lanugos (fine downy hair) without heating up the epidermis. The result is a clean, tidy, bright and smooth complexion, and the fresh and glamorous aura conferred by absolutely hairless skin.