This story is also available in 繁體中文.
Where the Zodiac Journey Began
The first tiger was not called Tongyao Tiger.
At the beginning, it was a patchwork cloth tiger with no teeth at all.
I called it Da Aowu —a playful name inspired by the sound a tiger might make.
But a tiger without teeth felt wrong.
How could it roar?
So I changed its structure, added a pair of exaggerated fangs, widened its eyes, and suddenly it had spirit.It looked mischievous, proud, and slightly ridiculous —exactly how a folk tiger should feel.
That was the first turning point.
Early prototype of “Da Aowu”, during the design process.
When a Nursery Rhyme Entered the Tiger
Around that time, I had just begun experimenting with silkscreen printing on fabric.
I wondered—
if words could live on a bear, why not on a tiger?
So I printed a Chinese nursery rhyme onto its body:
Two tigers, two tigers,
Running fast, running fast.
One has no eyes,
One has no tail,
How strange, how strange.
Around that time, I had just begun experimenting with silkscreen printing on fabric.
I wondered—
if words could live on a bear, why not on a tiger?
So I printed a Chinese nursery rhyme onto its body:
The rhyme was playful, slightly absurd, and strangely perfect for a folk tiger.
Its missing eyes, missing tail, and mischievous logic felt close to the exaggerated world of traditional handmade toys.
Layered with motifs inspired by folk paper-cutting, the tiger received a new name:
Tongyao Tiger — Nursery Rhyme Tiger.
Something changed.
It was no longer just a sewn toy.
It had become a printed creature carrying stories. point.
The Unexpected Beginning of Twelve Years
Only later did I realize:
this tiger had quietly opened a door.
It revealed a language I had been looking for—Chinese folk imagery, printmaking, textile sculpture, and New Year symbolism, all inside one object.
That discovery became a self-assigned project:
to create one zodiac creature every year.
A twelve-year journey began.
Returning to the Tiger
When the tiger year returned twelve years later, I redesigned Tongyao Tiger again.
This time, I replaced the digital lettering, which had always felt too stiff, and painted a completely new tiger pattern by hand with brushwork.
A new skin.
A new tiger.
And perhaps, a second beginning.
Two Little Tigers Under the Table
On Lunar New Year’s Eve, two children lay beneath my big worktable and performed Two Tigers as a puppet dance.
The tiger had returned to where it came from—
play, rhythm, childhood.
Which may have been where it belonged all along.
Tongyao Tiger was the first.
Without it, there would have been no twelve zodiac creatures.
—— over ——