by Xinhua writers Guo Yifan, Ma Xiaoran

NANNING, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Sitting in front of the camera, 63-year-old carpenter Wang Dewen, resplendent in his traditional Tang suit, meticulously turns the blade of a sharp knife to carve a wooden apple, an interlocking puzzle that uses no metal fasteners nor glue, together with his 2.7 million followers online.

Wang's videographer is his 32-year-old son Wang Baocheng who encouraged the elderly craftsman to record the whole process of making the centuries-old carpentry and post it online in June 2018.

Yet his appeal has transcended national boundaries, as his video clips have drawn over 200 million overseas views on YouTube.

Dubbed the "21st Century Lu Ban" by his fans, referencing a legendary Chinese woodworker who lived around 2,500 years ago, Wang Dewen dedicated himself to sharing his work on video platforms under the moniker "Grandpa Amu," breathing new life into traditional Chinese carpentry skills.

He is adept at designing modern works using the ancient woodworking skills of sawing, grinding, drilling and chiseling.

A wooden Peppa Pig, a hand-driven bubble machine, an apple-shaped lock and a mini robot are all toys he crafted to bring joy to his grandson.

Starting from the age of 13, Wang has spent decades mastering the techniques of mortise and tenon joints, learning from a skillful carpenter in his hometown, a small village in east China's Shandong Province.

A tenon refers to a protruding piece of wood that slots neatly into a cavity known as a mortise after polishing. Wang said that it is a difficult skill in woodcraft to shave the wood surface to be as smooth as glass to ensure a tight joint.

He began to work as a carpenter to make a living at 19. "My work was recognized by the villagers, and they often said that I had talent," said Wang.

During the late 1980s, carpenters enjoyed a golden era benefiting from the reform and opening-up policy. As an increasing number of people became wealthier, the need for new furniture was on the rise, too.

However, as Western-style minimalistic furniture grew in popularity, time- and labor-consuming wooden pieces with complicated techniques were increasingly seen as old-fashioned, losing their appeal especially among the young people.

"Many of my farther's carpenter friends turned to other jobs, yet my father has stuck to it even though he earned much less than before," said the son.

In 2017, Wang Dewen and his wife moved to Wuzhou, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, to live with their son and help take care of their grandson. He called on his carpentry skills to create toys for the newborn.

Wang's son came up with the idea of sharing his father's ingenious woodworking and the first video went viral online, attracting over 1 million views within a day.

"The chair made by 'Grandpa Amu' is like magic as it is a simple plank when held together, and a chair when opened up," said a comment under Wang's post.

"We all need to pause to appreciate the skills this man has with simple hand tools and no electricity," one YouTube user wrote. "A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in."

The elderly carpenter suggested that it was not he that had grown in popularity, but the wisdom of his ancestors, and he is "glad to be an inheritor of it." Enditem

(Xinhua reporters Hu Jiali and Wu Sisi also contributed to the story)

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