CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- Yu Mubing, a 72-year-old “palm leaf weaving grandpa” in Fengtian Village, Xixin Township, Shizhu County, Chongqing, has quickly accumulated nearly 180,000 followers and gone viral on social platforms because of short videos accidentally shot by his grandchildren.

This is an ordinary farming family in a small mountain village. After a meal, 72-year-old Yu Mubing began to make palm leaf weaving, his son worked in the yard, while his granddaughter and son-in-law watched their grandfather make palm leaf weaving, while thinking about how to shoot short videos.

Yu Mubing began to learn palm leaf weaving at the age of 12. No one was interested in his exquisite craftsmanship until his granddaughter and son-in-law found his grandfather’s “amazing” handicraft during the epidemic last year.

His granddaughter-in-law Long Xi was fascinated by his grandfather’s craft. He and his wife followed their grandfather to learn palm leaf weaving while shooting short videos to post his grandfather’s weaving process online.

He took a few palm leaves in his hand and alternated his hands from side to side, tearing, pulling, winding, piercing, and in a short time, a lifelike grasshopper came into being.

Surprisingly, once the short video was released, it was favored by netizens all over the country, and now Yu Mubing has nearly 180,000 fans on the Kuaishou platform.

In mid-September, when he learned that the three astronauts of the Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft were about to return in triumph, Yu Mubing picked up palm leaves and wove a “Shenzhou XII spacecraft”.

The palm leaves are woven into different patterns, and under the techniques of Yu Mubing’s fingers, small palm-woven animals comes into being one after another.

Although he went viral online, the old man’s life of herding cattle and farming remains unchanged. In his spare time, he would take out tools such as scissors, pliers and fine wire, cut the palm leaves into strips of fine wires to weave them into a big world.

After declaration, Yu Mubing and his granddaughter and son-in-law have become non-heritage inheritors of palm leaf weaving at the county-level in Shizhu, Chongqing, and they are applying for municipal non-heritage.

In a quiet mountain village, the family is happy together. Two young people, granddaughter and son-in-law, fell in love with palm leaf weaving because of their grandfather, and they decided to learn seriously to pass on this time-honored craftmanship. (Translated by Wang Junli, Fathom Language Limited)