Small is beautiful

Building history 

"Folk houses in North and South China were similar during the 1960s but by the 1980s and 1990s, people in the South were some of the first to benefit from China's opening-up, and their housing conditions improved a lot," Li said as he emphasized how the scale models catch the "pulses of history".

A 14-year-old girl, one of the many children in the country whose parents left their rural houses to work in the cities, reached out to Li, requesting him to recreate her home where she was raised by her grandmother as she herself subsequently moved to an urban area, he said.

In 2020, Li set up a center in Jinan, Shandong province to impart his miniature-making skills. More than 300 apprentices, ranging in age from 16 to 79, have successfully learned the basics of the craft, he said.

Two sisters, retirees in their 50s, are among those who spend time in Li's studio to craft their own folk home and remember their childhood.

"People can immerse themselves in crafting their own home. It's not tedious because they create it detail by detail, recollecting sweet and bitter memories gradually," he said.

Some of his trainees keep the model themselves while others send it to their children, allowing them to see the places where their parents grew up.

"It is a kind of inheritance," Li said. "Family ties have deep roots in China, but now we are gradually losing it. Some young people even find it hard to understand why a poor house can arouse such deep emotions. Some have asked me if it is a house for hamsters."

Li said he now plans to replicate the entrance to the village where he grew up. "In our village, my father worked as a builder of rural houses, constructing homes for others. Now, I've inherited his work by building homes — but in miniature, in memories."