Wood-carving: thousand-year-old skills still alive in Jianchuan

Wooden tools and architectural wooden remnants used 5,300 years ago were unearthed in Jianchuan and they are regarded as the ancient origin of Jianchuan wood carving. Today, the skills are still alive.

Located in west Yunnan’s Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Jianchuan County is famous as the "hometown of craftsmen”. Here wood carving craftsmen are good at sculpturing wood into figures, flowers and birds, landscapes, and images of dragons and phoenix that decorate doors, windows and furniture.

The history of Jianchuan wood carving dates back thousands of years. Wooden tools and architectural wooden remnants used 5,300 years ago were unearthed in Jianchuan and they are regarded as the ancient origin of Jianchuan wood carving. 

Today, the Jianchuan wood carving products are increasingly getting popular in Yunnan, even across the country. In 2011, the wood carving was inscribed into the list of National Intangible cultural heritages.  

Editor: Wang Shixue