Inheritor of traditional practice fears his trade will be extinguished in years to come

Zhai Yuliang gently touches the delicate carvings on a rosewood Beijing palace lantern, as its crimson paint glistens in the light.

A round glass panel has been inlaid in the center of the six-sided lantern. A lifelike traditional Chinese watercolor painting of a cuckoo perched on a blossoming peach tree twig is meticulously drawn on the glass.

This beautiful handmade lantern has taken Zhai nearly two weeks to complete.

The work of the third-generation Beijing palace lantern craftsman, who is one of the last few acclaimed masters of the craft, has never lacked admirers.

But the 55-year-old has been unable to recruit apprentices over the past two decades, even after the practice was listed on the national protection list of intangible cultural heritage in 2006. He is worried about the tradition's survival.

"Everyone in my workshop is about 50. No young people want to learn the skills," Zhai said, sighing.

It takes about 100 procedures carried out over eight days to create a lantern from design until completion. The process involves carpentry, weaving and painting. It takes at least three years to hone the skills.

"Mastery requires enduring a lot of hardship, so no parents want their children to undertake the trade," Zhai said.

The artisan said the tradition's currently bleak situation was unimaginable during his workshop's heyday 20 years ago.

"In the 1970s and 1980s, young and old people sought the oriental touch and used Beijing palace lanterns in their homes or offices," Zhai recalled.

"But today, this old shop only attracts old customers."

After their invention in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Beijing palace lanterns illuminated the imperial courts. They gradually became popular lighting fixtures and decorative items for ordinary households, traditionally placed in the centers of rooms.

They are larger and more decorative than ordinary lanterns. They are also embedded with painted silk or glass panes on every one of their six sides.

But modernization has led to changing aesthetic sensibilities, rendering the traditional lanterns incompatible with modern homes, especially in the views of younger people.

The lanterns' high prices are also detracting from their popularity among ordinary people. A medium-sized lantern normally costs about 5,000 yuan ($764), making it a luxury item, Zhai said.

He said the high price is related to the complicated production processes and especially to the expensiveness of the materials, such as redwood, ebony and rosewood.

"Rising timber prices have caused the lanterns' prices to soar. They are also impossible to mass produce because they are handmade products," Zhai said.

He said shrinking demand for palace lanterns is a major reason he has been unable to find successors.

In the 1980s, Zhai's workshop sustained an average annual turnover of 500,000 yuan. But that fell to 200,000 yuan in 2010, forcing Zhai and his coworkers to desperately look for new business channels.

Some cultural experts have advised Zhai to brand palace lanterns as high-end luxury goods and target upscale consumers.

"The lanterns' high prices have already naturally made them luxury products or valuable pieces of fine artwork," Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center founder He Shuzhong said.

"So manufacturers have to analyze their consumers to market their products to specific groups. They need to find out who is really interested in this traditional art form," He continued.

He also suggested incorporating modern designs to appeal to younger buyers.

"Palace lantern manufacturers can also seek partnerships with traditional furniture producers because households decorated with traditional furniture are more suitable for hanging such lanterns."

He said it is worth preserving the historical prominence of these symbols of traditional Chinese culture.

"The inheritance of intangible cultural heritage not only requires the efforts of craftsmen and relevant enterprises, but also needs more policy support and financial aid from the government," He said.

Many other intangible cultural heritage craftsmen are facing the challenge of declining demand for their goods and a lack of successors.

In 2009, the Ministry of Culture and the State Council designated 2,516 national intangible cultural heritage items and 1,488 heirs, or master craftsmen.

The Ministry of Culture has been allocating an annual allowance of 8,000 yuan to these masters.

In addition, the country's first intangible cultural heritage protection law will take effect on June 1. It is designed to better preserve the country's cultural legacies.

Zhai's lantern workshop has received financial aid from the Beijing Arts and Crafts Association since 2006.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also started ordering his lanterns as gifts for foreign diplomats. And many ambassadors in China have been buying lanterns directly from him as souvenirs when they leave Beijing for other missions.

Zhai said this has boosted his confidence, but he is still wary.

"There were two other well-known palace lantern shops in Shanghai and Guangzhou, but they went bankrupt in the 1980s and 1990s because of the same problems I face," he said.

But as long as there are people who like his lanterns, Zhai said, he will do his best to keep his shop open and pass his skills to the next generation.

"I want to make the Beijing palace lantern a more popular tourism souvenir, because many foreigners like our products," Zhai said.

"I hope future generations can also admire the beautiful palace lanterns, as we do today."