Carving a future in a traditional art

The clink-clink starts before the sun clears the ridge — short, high-pitched metallic taps, the sound of chisels fine-lining scriptures into stone. Namkha Kyid grew up with that sound in Heri village, Zekog county, southeastern Qinghai province.

Both her grandfather and her father were skilled in the craft. Her mother was unable to write her own name, yet she could carve it in stone with ease.

At 15, Kyid picked up the fine chisel and small iron hammer herself.

"My sisters and I would compete to see who learned faster, who was the best," she recalls.

Today, at 39, she is a single mother of a son and a daughter.

"The craft allows me to earn money while taking care of my family," she says, carving scriptures into a slab of stone — one stroke, one chip, the dust falling on her chuba robe.

Working from early morning until dusk, she can finish 10 slabs. Two weeks of work earns her nearly 5,000 yuan ($744.8).

"Income from carving stone has become the main source of livelihood for most villagers here," says Puwa Dorje, Party secretary of Heri village.

He is also the legal representative of Heri Stone Carving Art Co, established in 2009 to pool the village's craft resources and build a diverse product line that includes stone carvings, tea tables, inkstones, and paperweights.

Heri village has a population of 1,020, and the stone-carving craft has now helped 560 villagers find work or start their own businesses. Of those, 265 artisans work steadily at the company, whose annual sales have topped 7.56 million yuan, he adds.