Painting fuels local economy in Shandong

Holding a pair of brushes — one with pigment and the other with water — Tian Lili paints peonies on a 1.8-meter-long paper on Monday at a painting cooperative in Hongmiao village of Juye county, Shandong province.

The 42-year-old Tian needs one week to finish the painting.

"My working time here is flexible. Usually, I paint peonies seven or eight hours a day when there is no farming work to do," said Tian, who has been working on painting peonies for 12 years at the cooperative.

"Working here enables me to take care of my parents and children while earning a living by painting peonies," she added.

Like Tian, in Juye more than 11,000 painters, most of whom are farmers, have taken to painting to make a bit of money on the side while remaining locally based rather than traveling away from their homes to make money.

The meticulous brushwork of Gongbi painting has not only depicted a path of rural vitalization in Juye, which is administered by Heze, a city known as the "Peony Capital of China", but laid a foundation of high-quality economic development in the county.

To date, Juye has more than 160 painting and calligraphy training institutions. There are more than 20,000 people involved in the painting industry including painting and marketing.

With an annual output of over 1.2 million paintings, the artwork is sold to 40 countries and regions, according to the county government.