Heritage of creativity

Range of expertise stretching back millennia on show as spectacular museums dedicated to various art forms open to the public in Beijing, Lin Qi reports.

Cui Qiming, a recognized national master of arts and crafts, has sculpted jadeite for decades, and his carvings, primarily figures and miniature landscapes, have seen him scoop up national prizes.

One of the works he is particularly proud of is The Four Seas Rejoice, a 1.5-meter-long jadeite screen, a monumental project he participated in back in the 1980s.

At the time, in his 20s, Cui had just graduated from a school of arts and crafts and became a technician at the Beijing Jadeite Engraving Factory. He assisted and learned from revered engravers at the factory on the making of The Four Seas Rejoice, which took three years to complete.