You can scramble them, fry them, or hard-boil them, but who know you could make art of them? For Dong Yiyan, a 39-year-old artisan from Anhui Province, eggs are his medium.A Chinese traditional craft that originated in Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), carved eggs follow the custom of sending red-colored eggs to newly mar-ried couples, people celebrating birthdays or a newborn child."Different patterns later developed to express different meanings," said Huang Wenle, a sophomore at Hangzhou Electronics University (HEU) who organized Dong's egg carving performance."This artform is rarely seen nowadays, so we hosted this event in the hope that more Chinese can become more familiar with egg carving and support to its craftsmen."Carving out a niche The event was sponsored by Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), an international non-profit that establishes clubs at universities to help create economic opportunities for members of their community.SIFE, which started in 2007 at HEU, received $600 from the Tiger Woods Foundation at the end of 2008.A few months later, Huang, also the head of SIFE at HEU, ran into Dong Yiyan."Last February, me and a couple other guys from the club were on our way back to school when we saw Dong selling his carved eggs on the street," Huang said."It was the first time they had seen the crafts and the students were curious about how they were made."By carving characters with a small blade, Dong drills a small hole into the bottom and sucks out the yolk and egg white.According to Huang, as soon as they saw the process, they immediately decided to set up an event where Dong could display his skills to a wider audience.Eggs in one basket Dong had graduated from junior high, but never went beyond that. However, he had always been good at painting, and in his early 20s started egg carving. Nearly two decades later, Dong has become a master of this ancient craft.In 2003, Dong left his hometown of Fuyang with his wife and son hoping that they could make more money in the bustling metropolis of Hangzhou.But his eggs were not selling so well, and Dong was only pulling in around 1,000 yuan ($146.5) a month.And Dong had other problems too. The notorious municipal management officers, also known as chengguan, would often show up and confiscate his eggs because he was operating without a license. He later moved into the university district where there are less chengguan, also investing in an iron box to carry his eggs away lest they suddenly showed up.Sunny side up "Egg carving is an art that needs to be passed on," Huang said. "It is very beautiful and unique, but no one's paying attention to it. We wanted to promote this art, so we invited Dong to give a performance."Dong was reluctant at first, but Huang and his friends were adamant.They helped promote Dong's art, explaining to passersby the value of the traditional craft, printing out, making signs, even business cards.Finally Dong agreed, and the students went to work "revamping," Dong's image by suggesting that he carve more popular designs like Olympic mascots and cartoon characters."We thought we needed to add something new to this traditional art to make it appeal to a new generation," Huang said.But Dong wasn't so enthused about infusing modern elements into his craft.Eventually he relented, hoping his business would improve. Sales took off. One of Dong's most popular pieces is the character jiong, an Internet expression often used by people in their teens and twenties to mean depressed and unsure of what to do."I didn't even know how to pronounce this character," Dong said. "But I discovered college students loved it."A year after his first exhibition at HEU, Dong's income doubled to 2,000 yuan per month.Huang remains ambitious. He's now looking for a sponsor to help Dong open a store so that he no longer will have to sit outside peddling his craft."I'm grateful to the students for their help and I'm now teaching children painting and egg carving to try to give back," Dong said.[url=http://life.globaltimes.cn/life/2010-03/513847.html]详见《环球时报》海外版[/url]