A villager in Jing'an county, East China's Jiangxi province, has been awarded an appearance design patent for knitting a suit of armor using more than 8,000 copper coins. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

A villager in Jing'an county, East China's Jiangxi province, has been awarded an appearance design patent for knitting a suit of armor using more than 8,000 copper coins.

The armor, shining in sunshine, appears majestic. It's flanged with leather and copper rivets, and decorated with a Tai Chi- Eight Diagram design on the front as well as a black waistband. Eight Diagram is also known as Bagua, used in Taoist cosmology.

The armor is Zhang Canjin's second recent work. The first, which took him about two months, has been sold.

"I didn't think that I could get a national patent when I started knitting the armor," said Zhang, 52, who lives in Huanglong village.

He said knitting is one of his interests. "The old craft was not very popular when I was young, and it was difficult to find enough copper coins," Zhang said, adding that he did not knit often.

"In ancient times, copper coins represented fortune and wealth. Linking the copper coins one by one had the positive meaning of accumulating wealth," it was noted. However, few people know the craft of coin knitting nowadays. Zhang said he hopes more young people can learn and inherit it.