湖南安仁，有一种指尖上的手艺——米塑。

早稻米为料，揉、捏、搓、剪、挑，十二生肖跃然掌上。黄栀子、商陆草、艾草熬出天然颜料，金黄、鲜红、翠绿，蒸熟后热气腾腾，栩栩如生。

米塑与神农炎帝渊源颇深。相传神农在安仁教农耕，见农家做汤圆，随手用米粉捏出母鸡带小鸡，栀子汁染黄，蒸熟后活灵活现。清同治《安仁县志》载：“正月十五，家家用米粉‘琢鸡婆’供‘三宝老爷’，祈六畜兴旺。”“鸡婆糕”由此成了纪念神农、祈求丰收的符号。

它出现在祭祀供台上，出现在婚丧嫁娶的宴桌上，米塑融进了安仁人的日子。2012年，安仁米塑被列入湖南省非遗名录。

见到何陆生之前，我以为会听到跌宕起伏的故事。

见了面，老人话不多。问他过去难不难，他埋着头捏手里的猴子，淡淡一句：“什么行业都要吃苦，不吃苦，出头不来。”

何陆生，69岁，安仁米塑非物质文化遗产代表性传承人。技艺传自父母，又传给子孙。

何爷爷的女儿何莲花告诉我们，小时候家里穷，三个孩子读书，全靠每年元宵节做米塑换些零碎钱，来凑学费。

就是这团米，养大了一家人。

颜料是他上山采的。揉面的手干皴开裂，可一碰米粉团，捏什么像什么。

“米塑在安仁家喻户晓，后来年轻人外出打工，从业者渐少。”

何爷爷没放下，却也放心不下。2016年，安仁启动“非遗进校园”，他走进学校教孩子们做米塑，一晃十年。县里还办起“国桢杯”米塑大赛，老中青幼同台竞技。

我们去的那天下午，孩子们围在桌前，眼睛亮亮的，迫不及待动手。何爷爷和女儿挨个看，帮着调整，却从不打断孩子们天马行空的想象。

一个女孩怯怯抬头，声音不大，却很坚定：“我想明年去比赛，我想传承下去。”

何爷爷站在教室门口，目送孩子们离开。他没说话，眼眶红了。

安仁米塑还孕育了多位艺术大师。动物雕塑家周轻鼎、陶艺大师周国桢，艺术生涯的起点，都是儿时跟着家人“琢鸡婆糕”。

安仁米塑，捏出的不只是吉祥物，更是艺术的种子。

在安仁，米不只是食物。是敬意，是期盼，是无论走多远，心里都揣着的那口故乡味。

In Anren, Hunan, there is a fingertip craft — rice sculpture.

Using early rice as the raw material, through kneading, shaping, rolling, cutting, and refining, the twelve Chinese zodiac animals come to life in the palm. Natural pigments are boiled from gardenia, pokeweed, and mugwort — golden, crimson, and emerald green. Once steamed, they emerge warm, fragrant, and vividly alive.

Rice sculpture has deep roots with the legendary Emperor Shennong (the Yan Emperor). It is said that while teaching farming in Anren, Shennong saw a farm family making glutinous rice dumplings. He casually shaped rice dough into a hen with chicks, tinted them yellow with gardenia juice, and steamed them. They turned out remarkably lifelike. According to the Anren County Gazetteer from the Tongzhi era of the Qing Dynasty: "On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, every household shapes 'Zhuo Jipo' (making chicken dolls) from rice dough as an offering to the 'Three Precious Lords', praying for the prosperity of their livestock." Thus, "Jipo cake" became a symbol of honoring Shennong and praying for bountiful harvests.

Rice sculpture appears on sacrificial altars, as well as at weddings, funerals, and festive banquets. It has woven itself into the daily life of Anren's people. In 2012, Anren's Lantern Festival Rice Sculpture was inscribed on Hunan's Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Before meeting He Lusheng, I expected to hear an epic story of ups and downs.

When we met, the old man turned out to be a man of few words. When asked whether life had been hard, he kept his head down, shaping the monkey in his hands, and said quietly: "No matter what you do, you have to endure hardship. Without it, you'll never make your way in the world."

He Lusheng is 69 years old. He is an inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Anren rice sculpture. He learned the craft from his parents and has passed it down to his children and grandchildren.

His daughter, He Lianhua, told us that when they were young, money was tight -- with three children to put through school, the family relied entirely on making rice sculptures during the Lantern Festival each year to scrape together the tuition fees.

It was this handful of rice that raised the whole family.

The pigments were made from plants he gathered from the mountains. Kneading dough, his weathered and cracked hands could shape anything the moment they touched the rice flour.

"Rice sculpture was once known to every household in Anren. But later, young people left for work in cities, and fewer and fewer were willing to take up the craft."

He Lusheng couldn't let it go, but he also couldn't rest easy. In 2016, Anren launched the "Intangible Heritage Enters Schools" program. He started going into schools to teach children rice sculpture. Ten years have passed in the blink of an eye. The county also established the "Guozhen Cup" rice sculpture competition, bringing together the young, the middle-aged, and the elderly to compete on the same stage.

On the afternoon of our visit, the children sat around the table, their eyes bright, eager to begin. He Lusheng and his daughter moved among them, helping to make adjustments here and there, but never interrupting the wild and wonderful ideas unfolding in the children's imaginations.

A little girl looked up timidly, her voice soft but unwavering: "I want to compete next year. I want to carry on this craft."

He Lusheng stood at the classroom door, watching the children leave one by one. He didn't say a word. His eyes were red.

Anren rice sculpture has also nurtured several masters of art. The world-renowned animal sculptor Zhou Qingding, and the ceramic artist Zhou Guozhen — both trace the starting point of their artistic careers back to their childhoods, when they followed their families in making "Zhuo Jipo" rice sculptures.

What Anren rice sculpture shapes are not just mascots, but the seeds of art.

In Anren, rice is more than just food. It is reverence. It is hope. It is that taste of home that people carry in their hearts, no matter how far they travel.

统筹丨邓华夫 唐志卓

记者 | 黄思婷 宛俊余

摄像 | 吴玉珊

通讯员 | 谭利炳 吴玉珊

外文翻译 | 张锦铭（实习）

特别鸣谢｜中共安仁县委宣传部 安仁县融媒体中心

责编：何庆辉

一审：何庆辉

二审：罗徽

三审：陈淦璋

来源：新湖南客户端

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