Because of the huge investment required, traditional Chinese arts and crafts were expensive, and few Chinese people could afford them.

But they sold well thanks to their artistry and sophistication. Lacquer carvings were one of the luxury articles made exclusively for the aristocracy in ancient China. After the founding of New China in 1949, traditional arts and crafts mostly went to the export trade. But given the current competitiveness of international markets, they did not do well because of their high cost.

In the 1990s, the arts and crafts sector shrank dramatically because of low profits and rampant counterfeiting, and quite a few traditional skills died out or were on the verge of extinction. In 2002, the Beijing Arts and Crafts Factory, the largest of its kind in China, went bankrupt, putting its backlog of artworks of the latter half of the past century up for auction. So far, seven arts and crafts enterprises have gone bankrupt in Beijing.

Worse, the decline of the industry makes young people reluctant to apprentice under the old masters. The number of highly-skilled craftsmen in the sector has dwindled to about 1,000 at the present time, according to the Beijing Arts and Crafts Association.

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