Pictures on gourds: Ancient art preserved

Over the past 20 years, Xue Gailian, 65, has created numerous works with gourds using pyrography, an intangible cultural heritage in Shanxi province, and helped her fellow villagers make money with the art form.

Twenty years ago, like most residents of Wucun village in Shanxi's Wenshui county, Xue's family made a living from growing grapes. But their income was limited by the local climate and soil environment.

"One day, my husband brought a good-looking gourd with him when he returned from outside the county," she said. "I liked it very much and wanted to preserve it. So I made a painting on it."

After traveling to investigate techniques, Xue, who loved painting since childhood, began to plant gourds on her farm. After a good harvest, she began to trying pyrography — the art of burning images into wood or other materials with hot tools, such as a poker or soldering iron. The art has been practiced since ancient times.

"At the beginning, I found it was not very easy for me to control the tools and I didn't make good images," she said. "To improve my skills, I traveled to Shandong province and Tianjin to learn from skilled folk artists."