Over 300,000 Liabilities Carpenter

His name is Wang Weixiang, who is known as the “Clumsy Carpenter.” This seemingly plain, insincere person has a big responsibility—although he can’t make ends meet and is heavily in debt, he still sticks to traditional wood carving craftsmanship. At present, Wang Weixiang's wood carving craft has already declared the province's intangible cultural heritage.

Each one is unique

Wang Weixiang operates a small wood carving factory, located in the outskirts of Fu Town, Liaoyuan City. Wang Weixiang gave it a name called: Clumsy Carpenter.

The factory is on the top of the mountain, the road is not good, and there are few people around the factory. The factory itself is a row of red brick houses without housing.

Entering Wang’s small factory, the first thing I saw was a wide variety of handicrafts. The first impression was that it was exquisite and unique. There were flowers, yellow crane towers, peach wood swords, and magnificent Forbidden City turrets. Wang Weixiang said that these are his own hands, and each piece is unique.

Father's wish: To make a big wood carving

Wang Weixiang, 57, is the third generation of woodcarving descendants in the family. His craftsmanship is mainly openwork. After graduating from junior high school, Wang Weixiang worked as a carpenter. He also worked on the project and earned a lot of money. However, when his life was on the ascent, he gave up his original career and began to engage in wood carving.

All due to what the father said on his deathbed: "The ancestral things cannot be missed, but to make it bigger, (this ability) spreads even longer."

In order to complete his father’s wishes and to realize his artistic ideals, in 2005, Wang Wei transformed the seller’s property and set up a woodcarving factory to prepare for the inheritance of his mastery of woodcarving techniques.

The ideal is very beautiful and the reality is cruel. The process of realizing the ideal is not smooth. Speaking of the past, Wang Weixiang’s eyes are moist.

Losing money but not losing quality

"I took out all the savings in my family and borrowed more than 300,000..." said Wang Weixiang. When the factory was first built, it was particularly difficult. Funds simply did not move and they continuously invested money but they did not make money. Later they brought their own money. Several apprentices also left because they had no money to pay. The dryers and sand mills that were bought when the factory was first built were later sold for lack of money.

Although the factory's efficiency is not good, Wang Weixiang still insists on integrity and still guarantees the quality of his works. "Others are fake one lose ten, my fake one lose one hundred." Wang Weixiang pointing to their own mahogany products, this is the ancestral craft, do not want to do craftsmanship, so the choice of materials is very careful, every year will go to Qinhuangdao Personally selected high quality pure mahogany for processing.

After several years of painstaking efforts, Wang Weixiang persisted, and now his sales of wood carving crafts have gradually widened, and began mass sales. Wang Weixiang pointed to the work on the wall and said: “This is a wood carving craft that will be sent to other places. The current channel is not so closed. We can often receive orders from outside, but the sales are still not wide enough.”

Declaring Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage

Although the business has improved, Wang Weixiang still owes more than 300,000 yuan in foreign debt. Afterwards, Wang Weixiang stated that he still has to stick to the traditional folk craftsmanship path. Although it is difficult, he still believes that this road can go longer. What makes Wang Weixiang gratified is that at present, his wood carving techniques have already been declared intangible cultural heritage in the province.

Speaking of Wang Weixiang, his wife, Wang Zhiying, said with a smile that when she was acquainted, she didn’t even look at him. What she was talking about was his craft—the first time he met, Wang Weixiang was in the gray, and he dropped the sawdust. However, the exquisite handicrafts that Wang Wei made can impress her. She can hardly believe that this is a rough man. Therefore, for many years, Wang Zhiying has been supporting her husband’s traditional wood carving process.