Leather art connects past and present

Since 2016, Jia's art business has received subsidiaries from the China National Arts Fund, as well as the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on multiple occasions.

It has encouraged him to lead a group of local artists to deliver multiple large-scale pieces, including those depicting the prosperity of the prairie area and distinctive folk dances that were chosen as gifts in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of autonomous region in 2017.

Under his leadership, many locals have picked up and upgraded their leather painting skills.

Guo Xiulian, 45, became one of Jia's apprentices after finishing costume design studies at the Inner Mongolia University of Technology.

"Even though I have an art background, drawing on cowhide is different from drawing on paper," Guo says.

"At first, I felt it very difficult because not only are the drawing steps different, but the leather art does not allow for mistakes. It must be done correctly the first time, as errors cannot be corrected," she adds.

It took her more than two months just to get the hang of drawing on cowhide.

However, little did she realize it would take her more than 10 times as long to get the hide carving down to a fine art.

She started with making lines before moving on to engraving patterns.

"It was the most difficult part, everything was so tedious … my shoulders ached and my hands trembled so much I could barely hold the tools," she recalls.

Fortunately, she gritted her way through and became a master of the art after more than 20 years of practice and innovations.

In March, Jia's leather painting facility was named by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism as a national demonstration site for the production-based protection of intangible cultural heritage items during the 2023-25 period.

To date, Jia has set up a leather painting museum at the Monishan town, a national intangible cultural heritage and tourist attraction site in Hohhot.

"We received more than 500,000 visits last year and expect to see 700,000-800,000 this year," Jia says.

He is now working on a series of leather painting pieces that present vivid stories of cultural exchange in various provinces on the ancient tea road.

"I hope more people will see the charm of leather painting through these historical expressions and savor the charm of Inner Mongolia's cultural elements," Jia says.

Yuan Hui contributed to this story.