Old skill gets modern twist

"He wanted to make an innovative pasted painting to take part in the exhibition. Since he was too poor to buy new cloth, he took some parts off the clothes of my grandmother and aunts to use as a material. My grandmother and aunts also helped him to paste the patterns he had designed," says Hao.

Teng and his family members spent a whole month on this work, and it later proved to be a success. It was brought to Beijing for an exhibition in 1990 after being shown in Chengde.

"Someone wanted to buy the work at 12,000 yuan ($1,800) then. My grandfather was shocked since he could only earn dozens of yuan each month," says Hao.

Teng then applied for a patent and started a business. He first spent five years improving the handicraft and training people before he began to promote it. He took his works to many competitions.

"He always aimed to win the first prize at such competitions. When he didn't, he would look for weaknesses in his works and see how to improve them."

In this way, his works would gradually improve, winning many prizes and became known.