Award-winning Inkstick Designer in E China

Xiang Shengli chooses suitable mold to shape inksticks in Shexian County of east China's Anhui Province, Aug. 11, 2012.

Xiang Shengli, 43, carried forward the craftsmanship of designing and making inksticks from his father, an senior craftsman in this business. Xiang started his own inkstick business in 1987. After 20 years of research and development, Xiang promoted the traditional technology, developed a series of new pattern designs. Currently, Xiang the award-winning inkstick designer has obtained over 160 patents on the ingredients and appearance of inksticks. Inksticks, along with writing brushes, inkslabs and Xuan paper, also known as rice paper, all invented in China, have been referred to as the "four treasures of study" since the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Huizhou inksticks are the premiere Chinese ink made of soot, using the same techniques that craftsmen employed 2, 000 years ago. Nowadays, the inksticks produced in Shexian have became a kind of artworks, not only among the painters and calligrapher but also around the collectors.