[Video by Shi Jianfeng to en.nantong.gov.cn]

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has given a surprise endorsement to an intangible cultural heritage artist from Nantong, Jiangsu province, after a sugar painting portrait of the soccer player caught his attention online.

Shi Jianfeng, an inheritor of Nantong's traditional sugar-painting craft, created the artwork using melted sugar as ink and a spoon as his brush. The piece, which depicts Haaland in a dynamic pose, impressed the Norwegian forward enough that he commented "Nice" on the social media post.

Shi, who was born in the late 1980s and has been perfecting his sugar art for over a decade, said he was thrilled by the recognition. "I didn't expect my sugar painting to be seen by Haaland himself," he said. "This affirmation not only validates my work but also shows that overseas audiences appreciate traditional Chinese craftsmanship."

The artist has been at the forefront of modernizing the ancient craft. While preserving traditional techniques, Shi has integrated painting methods with sugar art to create embossed sugar paintings.

In recent years, he has expanded his reach beyond live demonstrations and cultural events, using social media platforms to engage younger audiences by incorporating popular figures and trending cultural elements into his work.

Known colloquially as "poured sugar figures", Nantong sugar painting involves creating intricate designs on stone slabs using melted syrup, with animal and character motifs being particularly popular.