Edited and translated by Wang Xin, People's Daily Online.
According to incomplete statistics, 6,670 pieces of root carving works and 220 root-carving shops and factories were damaged badly by the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Lushan county of Ya'an city in southwest China's Sichuan province on April 20, 2013. The ebony root carving industry suffered a loss of 200 million yuan, according to Liu Yiheng, the president of root carving association of Lushan.
Lushan has been given the title of "China Root Carving Art City". Before the earthquake, about 300 enterprises, 1,200 designers and 8,000 employees were engaged in root carving industry in Lushan. The products of ebony root carving were not only sold well all over the country, but also popular overseas. The output value of ebony root carving industry in Lushan reached 1 billion in 2012.
Ebony root carving industry will struggle to recover and the government will spare no efforts to rebuild "China Root Carving Art City".