Xue Gailian, 65, has created many works with gourds (葫芦) using pyrography (烙画) in Shanxi Province over the past twenty years. She has also helped her villagers make money with the art form.
Twenty years ago, like most villagers of Wucun village in Shanxi's Wenshui county, Xue's family made a living by growing grapes. But they made only a little money because of the local weather and planting environment.
"One day, my husband brought back a good-looking gourd when he returned from outside the county," she said. "I liked it very much and wanted to keep it. So I made a painting on it."
Xue has been interested in painting since she was young. After learning and doing some researches, she started to plant gourds on her farm. After a good harvest (收获), she began to try pyrography. The art has been practiced since ancient times.
"At the beginning, I found it was not very easy for me to make good paintings," she said. "To improve my skills, I traveled to Shandong Province and Tianjin to learn from skilled artists."
Day by day, Xue's art became well-known in Chinese and foreign markets, including Japan and Singapore. She also set up a gourd pyrography society and has taught more than 100 local people for free.
"In the future, I will introduce more modern planting technology to improve the scientific planting of gourds," she said. "I will also further research and teach gourd pyrography skills to help villagers improve their lives."
She added: "I hope we can show more people the beauty of Chinese traditional arts and works through gourd pyrography."
