In 1980, we held the first exhibition of Beijing's folk toys since the "Cultural Revolution." Experts on customs and folk arts also attended. They included the cartoonist for Beijing Daily, Li Binsheng and veteran actors of the Beijing People's Art Theater, Li Xiang, Niu Xingli and Song Fengyi. Niu Xingli brought with him a clay rabbit, which he had kept for years, and I hurriedly made a sketch of it, so as to copy it later. With these supporters, we organized another exhibition in 1982, where Cao Yijian's cicada's exuviae monkeys were on display, along with Yu Yong's straw-ware and Shuang Qixiang's clay masks.
Veteran toy makers also gave a demonstration of how to make these toys. Master Zhang, from Henan, was invited to show how to make the clay monkey. I had made a cloth doll with straight arms for the display, which many visitors had never seen before.Han Suyin, a famous overseas Chinese writer, also came to the exhibition. She was surmised to see my cloth doll. "It's marvelous!" she said excitedly, "I played with this kind of cloth doll when I was little." Before she left, she gave me a diary of hers, in which she described playing with the doll, as a child in Beijing.
