The delicacy is in the details

Special relationship between ancient merchants and craftspeople has left a stunning legacy of art, report Wang Ru in Huangshan, Anhui, and Zhu Lixin in Hefei.

Editor's note: Traditional arts and crafts are supreme examples of Chinese cultural heritage. China Daily is publishing this series to show how master artisans are using dedication and innovation to inject new life into heritage. In this installment, we explore wood, stone and brick carving in architecture in the Huizhou area.

For Kuai Zhenghua, a 62-year-old national-level intangible cultural heritage inheritor of Huizhou wood carving, who is based in Huangshan in Anhui province, restoring ancient wood carvings is initially a game of detective work, and requires experience, intuition and imagination.

For example, when he was restoring one piece on which there were traces of an elephant farming, he knew it was a depiction of story of the legendary ruler Shun, who is believed to have lived over 4,000 years ago.

"It's a famous story about the cultural importance of filial piety. I have seen so many carvings about it, and can recognize it at a glance. In the story, Shun's display of filial obedience touched heaven and led to elephants farming for him. The legendary ruler Yao, who is said to be the predecessor of Shun, heard the story and visited Shun to ascertain whether his character qualified him to take over his throne, before passing the mantle of leadership to Shun," says Kuai.

"Although there are often many missing parts, clues remain. For example, even if the heads of some figures are gone, you can still see their feet and clothing. Men often have bigger feet than women. Farmers don't wear long robes, but officials do. Women's costumes often have ribbons. Since these carvings usually depict legends, with clues like these, you can figure out which stories they are about," Kuai continues.

Once he understands a carving's content, he can restore it. The pieces he has worked on over the last four decades once decorated the buildings of Huizhou, a historical prefecture, which straddled the border between southern Anhui and northern Jiangxi provinces and covered the area of modern-day Huangshan.