Craftsman uses boxwood carving techniques to recreate famous scenes from well-known Chinese classical novels

Zheng Songqiang, a master of traditional Chinese crafts and arts, has created an elaborate artwork featuring more than 20 figures featured in one of China’s great classical novels – "Dream of the Red Chamber" – having adopted the medium of boxwood carving to create the piece.

Visitors at an exhibition view boxwood carving works by Zheng Songqiang. (Photo/Tong Xiaoyu)

The artist ingeniously crafted the figures, each of whom has adopted different postures, including one playing a musical instrument, one reading a book, and another playing Chinese chess, among others, with the facial features of every individual character being very vivid and emotive.

It took the craftsman one year to design and complete the entire artwork. Yueqing boxwood carving, a traditional craft that originated in Yueqing, a county-level city in east China's Zhejiang Province, was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage in China in 2006.

Photo shows a boxwood carving work by Zheng Songqiang that was based on China’s great classical novel "Dream of the Red Chamber." (Photo/Tong Xiaoyu)

At an exhibition of Zheng's works that opened on March 8 at the Zhejiang Provincial Museum in Hangzhou, the provincial capital, nearly 40 different boxwood carving artworks by Zheng were exhibited.

In addition to the artwork inspired by "Dream of the Red Chamber," other boxwood carving works of Zheng have also been based on some great classical novels of Chinese literature, including "Changbanpo," which is based on the story of Shu general Zhao Yun and his heroic fight at Changbanpo as depicted in the Chinese classical novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms."

Zheng, who has been engaged in the craft for 50 years, said he hopes that he can recreate famous scenes from Chinese classical novels and popularize Chinese culture by making more boxwood carving works in the future. In addition to carving human figures, Zheng has also creatively added background details to his artworks so as to further enrich their content.

Photo shows an artwork titled "Changbanpo," which was based on the story of Shu general Zhao Yun and his heroic fight at Changbanpo in the Chinese classical novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms.” (Photo/Tong Xiaoyu)

Visitors at an exhibition examine a boxwood carving work by Zheng Songqiang. (Photo/Tong Xiaoyu)