Former fashion designer wows audience with stunning steamed buns

(ECNS)-- A Chinese social media influencer in West China's Chongqing has created stunning art out of steamed buns, or mantou in Chinese.

Ouyang Qinyun, 40, used to be a fashion designer, but her hobby now is making fancy steamed buns. Inspired by a mantou video she watched in 2019, she decided to make her own buns.

The designs of the mantou include cartoon characters, movie characters, paintings and sculptures.

For her, mantou design and fashion share similarities, but mantou design is more difficult.

She has created 20,000 different styles of mantou.

Her innovative products have won her praise both from home and abroad. She said she hopes to hold a fancy mantou exhibition in the future.

All the colors on the steamed buns are derived from natural ingredients, Ouyang said. Red is derived from crushed red yeast rice, purple from purple sweet potato, and black from cuttlefish powder.

Ouyang has also launched a series of training courses for stay-at-home mothers and pastry lovers as a way to pass on the technique of making Chinese pastry.