Man uses skill to carve out good living

A disabled man from Dong'an county, Hunan province, is passing on his masterful skills in intricate wood carving to the next generation, and his inclusive approach is enabling younger persons with disabilities to learn his techniques and forge their own careers.

Tang Guoqiang, today a successful wood carver with his own studio and multiple awards, experienced a life-changing incident at the age of 9 after a fall on an icy road led to a diagnosis of acute myelitis, which led to him becoming paralyzed from the waist down.

Shortly after the diagnosis, Tang's mother passed away and his brother lost his leg in an accident. It all felt too much at the time for the young man.

"I thought my life was over," he said.

In 2002, urged by his father to pick up a skill, Tang picked up a rusted hacksaw blade from a scrapyard and started practicing carving on discarded furniture.

From then on Tang spend hours whittling away at wood, enduring much frustration and difficulty, to hone his skills to a new craft.

Undeterred by having to teach himself, the satisfaction of improving drove him ever onward. "Others could be much more mobile, but I had to press my elbows hard just to steady the wood," he said.

His breakthrough came in 2010 at skills competition for people with disabilities in Hunan, where judges were stunned as he carved out a delicate piece with a manual hacksaw blade. "His blade moved faster than the electric chisels," remarked Xiao Shaoshan, a master craftsman who later became Tang's mentor. Under Xiao's tutelage, Tang further sharpened his skills, filling the studio with wood shavings "taller than his wheelchair".

In 2014, Tang founded the Yuming Carving Studio with local government support, instituting a unique pricing principle: works by deaf-mute artisans commanded the highest prices, followed by those with physical disabilities, while pieces by able-bodied creators were the cheapest.

"They need opportunities, not just skills," he said, explaining that those with the most obstacles should be given the most opportunities. In 2018, his perseverance bore fruit when his intricate piece Silk Road Melody won the Golden Phoenix Award, China's highest honor in wood carving.

His most expensive work, which depicts the pilgrimage of a famous Chinese monk, Xuanzang (602-664), along the ancient Silk Road, sold for 120,000 yuan ($16,700), a milestone that affirmed his artistic recognition and offered him much-needed confidence.

It took him six months to meticulously carve the figures on the 30-centimeter tall and 30-cm wide piece.

Tang's studio has become a sanctuary for disabled apprentices.

"I teach them to carve walking sticks first — it's about patience and willpower," he said, requiring students to ruin 49 sticks before mastering the craft.

His own journey, shaped by adversity, has fueled his mission to empower others.

"I want them to stand on their own, not rely on family," he said.

Over the past 30 years, Tang has created over 700 pieces.

Deeply influenced by the Long March (1934-36) spirit, Tang channeled his reverence into art. For the Communist Party of China's centenary, he crafted a root carving featuring 100 miniature Red Army soldiers hidden within a torch, some no larger than grains of rice. "The Long March taught me to conquer despair," he said.

His studio's motto is inherited from his father: "30 percent skill, 70 percent grit, 100 percent humility, a century to nurture talent", is echoed in packaging crates dispatched nationwide. Tang remains dedicated to teaching and creating. His workshops blend online sales on short-video platform Douyin and e-commerce platform Taobao, with word-of-mouth acclaim.

Tang Zhijie, one of his apprentices, said Tang Guoqiang is very strict with them, and he teaches them all his skills so they can make a difference on their own one day.

"Wood never lies," Tang Guoqiang said while chiseling a lightning bolt into the log of his next masterpiece.

Zhu Youfang in Changsha contributed to this story.

zoushuo@chinadaily.com.cn