XIANG SONGQUI can be found everyday in his ramshackle shop in bustling Hepingxilu Street in the Liwan district of Guangzhou. Steep, short-treaded stairs, which can only accommodate half a foot on each step, lead up to Xiang's 100 sq ft living room, which doubles as his workshop. Here there are more than 200 seals, or chops, hanging overhead, made from jade, metal, wood and ivory.
Xiang's work table, passed down by his father, has edges rounded from long, hard use. 'It has 60 years of history, even older than me,' Xiang says.
Thick-lensed glasses, the result of years of eye-strain, balance on the end of his nose as he carefully puts the finishing touches to a fingernail-sized jade seal. He leans back and smiles in satisfaction at the four Chinese characters, an idiom meaning 'heaven favours those who work hard', which took him more than 20 hours to carve. 'Every time I finish a piece of work, I feel happy ... just like a child building a toy house with blocks,' says Xiang, 58, whose rough hands are dyed and scarred from 46 years of seal-making.
Sadly, Xiang is one of the dwindling numbers of seal craftsmen still plying the traditional trade in China, and these days he struggles to make a living. While some of China's traditional arts studied by scholars are virtually guaranteed preservation, many at the grassroots level, like Xiang's expertise, are on the verge of disappearing. 'I hope the skills won't be allowed to pass away with me one day,' he says quietly.
In ancient folklore, the first seal, the embodiment of power by heaven's mandate, was given to the mythical Yellow Emperor, Huang-ti (27th century BC), by a yellow dragon.
The earliest known seals in China date to the Spring and Autumn period (722-481BC). Seal-making became popular in the Qin dynasty (221-206BC) when the law of Shang Yang, initiating one of the first political reforms in Chinese history, was printed with bronze seals.