Shanghai Daily news

You can't get blood from a stone, but Wang Jingen can turn a piece of stone into a teapot, brush pot on ink slab.
The 69-year-old stone carver uses various carving knives to turn stones into delicate artwork.
Inspired by the details of his rustic life, he endows his work with a sense of nature.
Wang's superb skills along with his intricate designs have earned him a reputation as the city's master of stone carving.
Many collectors and even some overseas visitors have swarmed to his shabby workshop to buy his work.
However, Wang said he only had a faint idea of this traditional art form at the very beginning.
It was destiny that finally led him to take up stone carving, Wang said.
Born into a wealthy family in suburban Nanhui District, Wang received a good education, but his families wealth was held against him, as the rich were looked down on during the early years of the People's Republic.
After graduating from a local middle school, Wang dreamed of being a soldier or a teacher. At the time, however, there were few opportunities for the rich, especially with government departments.
"Therefore I had no other choice but to master a practical skill that enables me to earn a living," he said.
At the age of 19, Wang began learning woodcarving from his father-in-law, who was once a well-known artisan in the district.
He practiced woodcarving for about 20 years, which provided him with a solid foundation for his later career in stone carving.
"One day, it just occurred to me that sculpting rocks would be more challenging for me. So why not give it a try?"
The trial lasted for about 30 years, and Wang is still absorbed in creating exquisite stone carvings and perfecting his skills.
In wang's eyes, stone carving is not only an old form of folk art that has been passed down from generation to generation, but also one of the brilliant pages in Chinese cultural history.
However, like many other traditional Chinese art forms, stone carving has gradually lost its charm in the past few decades, resulting in the lack of excellent successors.
"I don't want to see its extinction in the near future," he pointed out.
Much to Wang's comfort, all of his three children showed a great propensity for stone carving at a very young age.
"I never forced them to express strong interest in this unique art form. But it's apparent that they've inherited all the traits of their father," Wang said in a proud voice.
Now one of his children has become a skilled stone carver and the other two are also engaged in making some stone carvings or woodcarvings.
Wang said he is quite content with his life at present though it is not decent and luxurious enough in many people's eyes.
"Fortune and fame don't matter so much for someone in their old age like me. But I still have a dream, or to be more exact, I have a goal - that is to create more works in the next 10 years," he smiled.