Heqing wood carving: Art on knifepoint

West Yunnan’s Heqing County has a wood carving history of more than 1,000 years. Today, craftsmen in the county still stick to carving by hand. And their works demonstrate high artistic attainments.

Located in west Yunnan’s Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Heqing County has a wood carving history of more than 1,000 years. Accordingly, the wood carving can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

Even though efficiency will be largely improved if machines are used in wood carving, craftsmen in Heqing still choose to hand carve their works which demonstrate high artistic attainments. 

They endowed their works with life by injecting thoughts and feelings in each work. Usually, a fine work usually takes a craftsman more than half a month, or even longer.   

Editor: Wang Shixue