Chinese artisan makes Russian matryoshka nesting dolls : NPR
Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR’s international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.
Matryoshka dolls are a tradition of Russian folk art dating back over a century. These hollow wooden figurines, shaped like chunky bowling pins, and richly painted, come in sets that fit perfectly together.
During a recent visit to northeast China, I learned that many nesting dolls are made here in a small township: Yimianpo. It is about 200 kilometers from the border with Russia.
In the late 19th century, when the Russian Empire began building railway lines to expand eastward, Yimianpo was a key stop. The matryoshka – or tao waas they are called in China – followed.
A workshop owner invited me to his sculpture studio. There, amid thigh-deep piles of wood chips, I watched a craftsman hammer a block of basswood from a nearby forest on a lathe. Wielding gouges and chisels that looked like devilish pokers, he shaped the wood into a rounded silhouette. Then he carved another one. And another.
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