The picture printed from engraved plate used to be so common and popular in Chinese homes, especially during the traditional Lunar New Year Festival, that it earned the name "New Year's Picture".

These days, however, wood engraving works can only be found in the homes of researchers or collectors or in remote villages, said the artists at the 1st International Symposium on Chinese wood engraving in Kaifeng City, in Henan Province, central China.

During the symposium, Feng Jicai, a well-known Chinese writer and also an expert in traditional Chinese arts, pledged to make great efforts to revive traditional Chinese wood engraving, one of many traditional arts that is "rapidly collapsing and diminishing” in China.

The key to reviving the traditional art is to recruit and train a number of young artists of wood engraving as soon as possible, said Professor Bo Songnian with the Central Academy of Fine Arts.

However, many elderly wood engravers have expressed concern about the future of the traditional art.

Yang Luoshu, a 78-year old artist from Weifang City, Shandong Province, east China, said that his only worry is that he is too old to revive the art. Weifang is one of the few places in China which is home to several wood engraving workshops.

Zhang Tingxu, a 49-year old man from Kaifeng, supports his family through wood engraving, but has failed to persuade his son to follow his steps. "My son said it does not make a good salary, and he wants to find a job in city."

According to Feng, who is president of the Chinese Folk Writers and Artists Association, the association has decided to study the issue as a basis for launching a national campaign to rescue cultural heritage.

Meanwhile, some local governments have also expressed interest in the preservation of wood engraving. In Zhuxian Town, Kaifeng, local wood engraving artists receive funding from the government.

In Wuqiang County, Hebei Province, in northern China, the country's first wood engraving museum has opened, with 3,738 wood engraving works on display.

(Xinhua News Agency November 24, 2002)