Cui Hua displays his marble engraving "Five Fine Horses" in which he imitates the painting style of Xu Beihong, a late famous Chinese painter, at his home in Sanzhuang Town, Rizhao of Shandong Province. [Photo by Liu Mingzhao/China.com.cn]

Cui Hua, a 49-year-old craftsman from Rizhao City in east China's Shandong Province, has gained a national reputation for his superb skill in white marble engraving and his works have become known throughout the country.

Cui's engraving career has gone through several stages. His grandfather and father were both stonemasons who enjoyed a great local reputation. As a result, Cui developed a deep interest in fine arts and stone engraving in his childhood.

In 1982, he was working as a secretary in a local machinery plant in charge of recreational activities. Eventually, his passion for stone engraving grew and several years later he quit his job and devoted himself heart and soul to his precious family heritage.

In 1995, Cui began to try marble engraving; his works were dominated by rich patterns of flowers, animals, characters and figures. Among his works during this period, the most representative was the engraving of the 324-character Lanting Xu (Preface to the Poems Collected from the Orchid Pavilion) which is a famous ancient calligraphy work by Wang Xizhi composed in 353. Cui engraved all the 324 characters and more than 70 seals on an 80cm x 35cm marble block with each character no bigger than a soybean.

In 2011, Cui came across a white marble tea table while visiting a stone market in Pingyi County. The idea of engraving on white marble suddenly came into his mind. He spent 500 yuan to buy the tea table and brought it home. In the following year, he transformed the table into two marble plates and engraved patterns of peonies and plums on them. These two white marble works were chosen for inclusion in the First Rizhao Cultural Industry Expo and have made a great impact on the engraving world.

Cui said that few craftsmen get involved in white marble engraving as the material is much easier to break than many other materials, and only 40 percent of the works attempted turn out successful. "The material is so fragile, but the white marble plates featured with my engraving can even be as thin as a piece of paper, just three millimeters," he said.

Cui explained that a complete white marble sculpture usually needs to undergo many processes of polishing, shaping, engraving, painting and packaging; all of these have to be done by hand and the slightest mistake can ruin everything.

Currently, Cui's technique in engraving figures, animals, flowers, landscapes and Chinese characters is superb without exception. His works are vivid and lifelike and have a unique artistic style combining meticulous Western painting techniques and traditional Chinese freehand brushwork.

In April 2016, Cui's stone engraving technique was included in the Shandong provincial-level intangible cultural heritage list. Moreover, many of his white marble sculpture works have been collected by a number of foreign politicians and celebrities visiting Shandong.

Cui's consummate marble engraving skills have been widely used in the industry of old tombstone and monument reconstruction and stone engraving at scenic spots.

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