CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- Carpentry has been passed down for thousands of years and still has a profound impact on people’s lives. Furniture is a daily necessity inseparable from every family. With the development of the times, the natural and simple Ming and Qing style solid wood furniture has entered the homes of ordinary people from old photos and museums. Today, we will approach Nanshan to visit a group of craftsmen who love traditional culture. They refresh the dying wood with new life by means of their ingenuity.

It is unnecessary to rhetorically embellish the beauty of Chongqing Nanshan. It is rarely known that among the verdant mountains, more than 40 carpenters have used their technique and ingenuity to make all kinds of precious woods “amazing” over the years. Here, people can witness the wonderful change of each furniture.

The first step in making furniture is to make the type of furniture according to the needs of the customer. In other words, it is necessary to draw the furniture first. Xu Zhaocai, 56 years old, is a Beijing arts and crafts master. Over the past 35 years, he has drawn woodworking drawings and engraving drawings for countless furniture.

Tenon-and-mortise work is a precious technique that Chinese carpenters have summed up in practice for thousands of years, and is also the essence of skills in traditional Chinese furniture. The tenons in the hands of Master Li Wenxing cannot be underestimated. They have experienced six processes, such as pressing and punching, before being assembled. When assembling, a constant fine adjustment is necessary. Only by adjusting each tenon to the best position, the products made can be beautiful and firm.

The furniture with initial usability will experience a gorgeous transformation in the hand of the engraver. The engravers use hundreds of knives to make embryos, engrave and polish... using the exquisite technique to “talk” to the wood in their hands, and carving beautiful patterns on the furniture. At this moment, the sound of the rotating fan and the sound of the chiseling wood of the masters merge into a wonderful melody.

Chen Baohua is carving the “Picture of 100 Sons”. In green hills and clear waters, Chen Baohua, the founder of this classical furniture processing factory, together with many skilled masters, has made every effort to make each furniture with his own understanding of traditional furniture. In work and life, everyone keeps learning and strives to make high-quality furniture with contemporary style through the combination of innovation and intangible cultural heritage.

The five thousand years of Chinese civilization has created a splendid and profound national culture. Solid wood furniture carries the essence of Chinese traditional culture. Each furniture has its unique cultural connotation, and becomes more profound and heavier through the carving and precipitation of the time.

Lacquering is the last process of making furniture. 29-year-old Li Wei believes that every inch of each furniture cannot be neglected. In the process of dry grinding, it is necessary to polish with six kinds of sandpaper from coarse to fine, and then go through water grinding and waxing before lacquering is finished. (Translated by Bai Fengling, Fathom Language Limited)