Food, especially China's cuisine industry, has become an integral component of cultural exchanges, which are being increasingly used to break barriers caused by different languages and cultural backgrounds. In recent years, an increasing number of Chinese women chefs, especially young chefs, have stood out on the world stage. They have shown the world their excellent cooking skills, and their innovative ideas for cuisine development. More importantly, they have presented Chinese women's wisdom and strength as they have promoted Chinese cuisine and culture in the new era.
Women of China highlights several stories involving Chinese women who have smartly combined the concepts and techniques of Chinese cuisine with food that is popular worldwide. The women have been leaving their marks on cultural exchanges, and those marks have helped advance the creative and vigorous global food culture. In this article, we share the story of Fan Sumu, a young, talented food vlogger who transforms chocolate from a simple dessert into a genuine work of art.
What happens when Fan Sumu touches chocolate? The young, talented food vlogger transforms it from a simple dessert into a genuine work of art.
Fan, who was born in 1995, has created the edible version of the famous landscape scroll painting, A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, a miniature version of the courtyard from the iconic costume comedy, My Own Swordsman, and a chocolate rendition of the Pagoda of Fogong Temple (also known as Yingxian Wooden Pagoda).
Her exquisite chocolate creations are so intricately detailed that people find it hard to imagine they were meticulously crafted from chocolate, even when they are informed of that fact beforehand.
With her stunning works, Fan has gained more than 3.5 million followers on social-media platforms including Douyin and Rednote, and her short videos, recording her creating the works, have received nearly 40 million likes worldwide.
Fan has strong affection for traditional Chinese culture, and she believes perfectly blending food with traditional culture is sure to ignite brilliant sparks. "I hope to use dessert as a novel medium to present my unique perspective in an innovative way," she says.
In 2022, after Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting, a dance inspired by A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains became a huge hit, Fan pondered ways to present the painting as a dessert.
"The painting brings together the magnificent landscapes and traditional Chinese architecture of our country in one scroll. I think China has so much profound culture to be proud of, and I feel honored to present this painting in a creative way," Fan says.
After she created that dessert, she began recreating classic scenes as desserts, and she explored the possibility of using chocolate to replicate ancient architecture.
Fan has reproduced architectural masterpieces, including the Hall of Supreme Harmony, in the Forbidden City, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, in the Temple of Heaven, and various famous paintings, including the Chinese scroll painting, Along the River During the Qingming Festival.
She has also challenged herself with international subjects, such as Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)'s painting, Flowers, and the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, France.
In April 2025, her chocolate replica of Haiyan Hall, in the Old Summer Palace, became a trending topic online. Her short video documenting the creation process received nearly three million likes on Douyin alone.
Using the 12 zodiac animal heads in front of Haiyan Hall as a scale, Fan calculated the dimensions of other structures, based on their distances and proportions relative to the animal heads. She then converted them into a uniform scale. In total, she compiled 328 sets of architectural data.
Based on the data, Fan created the components in chocolate, in various sizes, for later assembly. She started with the larger pieces, such as the walls and roofs, and she carved brick-like patterns on the surfaces, and she cut precisely the window openings. Then, she focused on other details, such as meticulously sculpting decorative tiles, window lattices, door frames and eaves.
After the 1,860 chocolate fragments had been assembled, Haiyan Hall, which was destroyed by the British and French forces during the Second Opium War in 1860, was restored to its former grandeur amid the aroma of cocoa.
Fan deliberately painted four of the animal heads gold, as the four remain missing to this day. "I hope they can stand out more and draw wider attention. I want to ‘light' the way for them to return home in my own way," she explains.
Some netizens shared their "reconstructions" of the Old Summer Palace through the paintings, game-building, and other methods, and they posted in the comments area of Fan's social-media accounts. "Many young people are using their own ways to express themselves and commemorate history," Fan says.
"I don't view replication as merely a craft; I also want to express the cultural connotations of the architecture," Fan says. For each work she creates, she will collect academic works, documentaries, blueprints, and even folk legends, to study.
"When replicating the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, I learned that architect and writer Lin Huiyin (1904-1955) protected the ancient trees at the Temple of Heaven Park, and she did extensive research and wrote about ancient architecture. When creating the Hall of Supreme Harmony, I saw architect Liang Sicheng (1901-1972)'s hand-drawn floor plan of it, and I learned he and his colleagues were the first to conduct surveys of it," Fan says.
"When making Haiyan Hall, I learned Tsinghua University professor Guo Daiheng (1936-2022), and her research team, spent 15 years digitizing the entire Old Summer Palace — truly an awe-inspiring achievement. Their research results support me, an outsider to architecture, as I complete my own creations," Fan adds.
She takes great pleasure in being a food vlogger. "I will keep spreading traditional Chinese culture in my own way, whether it is replication of architecture, cultural relics, landscapes or other cultural elements," Fan says.
"I enjoy the process of pushing my boundaries. My goal is to present innovative expressions of cultural confidence in a modern, youthful manner to a wider audience, and to showcase the unique charm of Chinese culture to more people. Our 5,000-year Chinese civilization is a boundless cultural treasure trove, with immense potential. There are still countless possibilities waiting for us to explore. I hope young people will embrace greater courage and self-assurance, and dare to explore and unleash their creativity in the fields they are truly passionate about," she concludes.
Photos from Interviewee
(Women of China English Monthly February 2026)
Editor: Wang Shasha
