The root carving art work "Five Hundred Arhats" was completed in Kaihua, Zhejiang Province. The entire art work used more than 600 longyan wood root stakes.
September 18th news from Kaihua (reporter Wang Quanjun): Yesterday (the 17th), a nearly 700 meter long root carving art work titled "Five Hundred Arhats" was completed in Kaihua County, Zhejiang Province. This giant root art piece was created by local root carving artist Xu Guqing who selected over 600 longyan wood root stakes and spent more than ten years to finish the creation. Zhou Zhengsheng, chairman of the China Arts and Crafts Association, believes that such a gigantic root carving work is extremely rare. Currently, the local government is preparing to apply for the Guinness World Record for this work.
Kaihua County in Zhejiang Province is located in the Qiantang River source area at the border of Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangxi provinces. Root carving art has a long history in the region. Currently, there are more than 20 root art enterprises locally with over 2000 employees. They produce more than 300,000 pieces (sets) of root art works each year, generating annual sales revenue exceeding 60 million yuan. The local government plans to apply for national intangible cultural heritage status for Kaihua root carving art next year (2011).