A small village, Wanggongzhuang, in Minquan County of Henan Province, has recently become known as "China's number one tiger painting village", for 700 out of the 1,000 villagers there are skilled in painting tigers.

Their works are not only popular in China, but also sell hot in countries and regions in Southeast Asia, Korea, Japan, and America, with the gross sale per year amounting to 6,000,000 yuan.

According to Dahe Daily, hand drawings of pine and crane, carp, the God of Wealth, and the Kitchen God are very popular in areas around Wanggongzhuang in the Eastern Hean Plain. Previously, these New Years paintings were only sold at country market fairs. However, in the late 1970s, some open-minded peasants began selling their exquisite works on the market. Wang Peishuang, who has become rich on this business, used to be among the “Four Tiger Kings”, four well-known tiger painters at that time. By now，Wang has an income of 300 thousand to 400 thousand yuan every year and has been running a painting training school. Wang has also become a member of Traditional Chinese Painters Association of China and Henan Artists Association. His works have won many prizes in some provincial art exhibitions.

(Chinanews.cn April 26, 2007)