Craftsman honored by Forbes China for transforming traditional architectural techniques into a phenomenon, Yang Feiyue reports.

In the worst of times, Liu Wenhui couldn't afford the delivery fee for a package six years ago. Now, he stands proudly as one of Forbes China's top 100 outstanding craftsmen of 2024, having transformed his passion for ancient Chinese architecture into a cultural phenomenon.

In a spacious plant based in Hangzhou, the capital of East China's Zhejiang province, the air hums with saws and smells of fresh wood. Workers meticulously craft ancient-looking building components like dougong (interlocking wooden brackets). Each person has a specific role — selecting wood, making components, sanding, polishing, and assembling the mortise-and-tenon joints.

"We are busy producing a new array of mortise-and-tenon building blocks," says the man in his 40s.

By simplifying designs and using plastic instead of wood, they've reduced the manufacturing costs of making toys that customers buy to build an ancient structure.

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The most affordable set is 98 yuan ($13) and 2,000 units sold out in less than a month after launching in November 2024.

"The best way to preserve cultural heritage is to make it usable," explains the man from Fenyang in North China's Shanxi province.

"When people engage with it, it thrives," he adds.

One of the oldest and most revered woodworking techniques worldwide, mortise-and-tenon has a history of over 7,000 years. Originating in ancient China, this method relies on interlocking joints to connect pieces of wood without nails, glue or other fasteners.

The mortise is a cavity or hole carved into one piece of wood, while the tenon is a protruding tongue on another piece that fits snugly into the mortise. When joined, the pieces create a durable and often intricate structure.

This technique reached its zenith in traditional Chinese architecture, where it was used to construct everything from grand temples and palaces to humble homes and furniture. The most iconic examples of mortise-and-tenon craftsmanship can be seen in ancient Chinese buildings.

"For ancient architecture, if you don't build it right, it won't stand and look good," Liu says.

Pursuit of heritage

Exposed to the dense ancient temples and pagodas in his hometown since childhood, Liu has been predisposed to the charm of traditional Chinese architecture.

After completing his studies in fine arts at Taiyuan Normal University in Shanxi in 2004, he worked in design and engineering management at a company in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, for over a decade, eventually getting promoted to head of project management in Vietnam.

While gaining financial stability, Liu felt a sense of emptiness and a sporadic desire to pursue culture and art.

"Every day was a haze — the hum of machinery and the constant presence of construction workers — it was stifling," he recalls, adding that reality veered far from what he envisioned for himself.

In 2012, he quit his job and started exploring opportunities for a different career.

He found inspiration at the end of the year when he visited a museum in Shanghai and was immediately drawn to a model of an ancient Chinese building.

"I thought of my roots," he says.

"I realized that such beauty shouldn't be locked behind glass — it should be touched, interacted with, and enjoyed," he adds.

That was when he came up with the idea of mortise-and-tenon building blocks. Liu started digging into books on ancient buildings and visiting them to study their details.

He made countless visits to Foguang Temple on Shanxi's Mount Wutai, a Tang Dynasty (618-907) masterpiece of architecture, and photographed, measured and documented its details.

"The surveying and mapping took over a year," he says.

He had to precisely determine the position and dimensions of every component of the traditional wooden brackets.

This precision allows him to balance the structure between the brackets, columns and beams.

Through various experiments, he built a 1:20 scale model of the eastern main hall of Foguang Temple, complete with interlocking dougong brackets, roof tiles and tiny beasts on the eaves.

"This is a way to pay tribute to the ancient craftsmen and their architectural artistry," he says.

To make the blocks, the trick is to dissect the mortise-and-tenon structure and maintain its external consistency when scaling it down.

"Transforming a 30-centimeter-thick column into a 1-centimeter version requires subtle design adjustments. The challenge lies in ensuring that these miniaturized components can still fit together seamlessly and be disassembled, which is no easy feat. It tests the limits of manufacturing precision. My goal is to create a desktop toy that faithfully replicates the interior and exterior of the original structure," he says.

As a building toy, its playability — the flexibility of disassembling and reassembling the components of the dougong model — poses another challenge to Liu.

The more detachable the components, the stronger the model's playability and the more advanced the underlying technology must be.

"When we first created dougong building blocks, many parts couldn't be disassembled, and there were still many flaws," Liu says.

He eventually overcame the problem by consulting with artisans who built old-fashioned village houses.

Through trial and error, Liu produced dozens of sets of blocks in 2013, all of which were quickly snatched up online.

"It was encouraging," he says.

Inspired to innovate

In 2016, Liu enrolled in the China Academy of Art to pursue traditional Chinese landscape painting, which he feels represents the essence of Chinese art, to deepen his understanding of the aesthetic principles that underpin his craft.

However, his journey to further revive ancient mortise-and-tenon craftsmanship was far from smooth. Unlike industries such as porcelain or tea, which have enjoyed uninterrupted development and possess complete industrial chains, the ancient art of mortise-and-tenon had largely faded into obscurity in modern life.

The lack of a preexisting ecosystem meant Liu had no established suppliers, no reference points and no roadmap to follow.

When his mortise-and-tenon studio was established, Liu faced many challenges ranging from construction deciphering to artistic design and model-making.

He even sold his house to fund his creative endeavors.

Initially, Liu relied on outsourcing his designs. However, the suppliers he approached struggled to meet his standards.

"The precision required for mortise-and-tenon joints is incredibly high," Liu says, adding that he knew he had to take control of the entire process.

While pursuing his studies at the academy, he established his production plant, investing heavily in equipment and training, hiring skilled craftsmen, and teaching them the intricacies of mortise-and-tenon construction.

However, Liu hit a bump in 2019 when he found his "heavy toys "could only reach limited clientele due to their higher costs.

It inspired him to innovate. By combining traditional craftsmanship with modern manufacturing techniques, he streamlined production while maintaining the integrity of the ancient art form.

"We reduced the number of parts needed for each structure, making it easier to assemble while preserving the design complexity," he explains.

Liu's perseverance paid off. What began as a small workshop has grown into a thriving business, expanding from 200 square meters to 2,000 sq m.

His products have found a strong market, with annual revenues peaking at 15 million yuan, a growth rate of 30 percent over the past two years.

Wang Yongxian, a cultural relics protection expert from Shanxi, says: "Liu has carried the cultural mission of bringing ancient Chinese architectural craftsmanship to life."

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"The dougong and mortise-tenon structures are not only living specimens of traditional craftsmanship but also enduring spiritual symbols of Chinese civilization," Wang says. "As modern urbanites at home and abroad touch the intricate structures of mortise-and-tenon and appreciate the interplay of mechanics and aesthetics, this once-dormant art, long confined to ancient texts, is becoming a cultural calling card for Chinese civilization to the world."

To date, Liu has developed sets of blocks for more than 80 ancient buildings, including those from the Palace Museum in Beijing and pavilions around West Lake in Hangzhou. Years of experience have enabled Liu to make interior analysis of various ancient architectural structures by seeing their exterior without using pen, paper or computer.

"I need to check the information to verify and fine-tune my drafts before the 3D modeling and printing," he says.

Liu believes his recognition by Forbes China has opened new doors for international expansion.

"I hope to collaborate with global partners and bring mortise-and-tenon craftsmanship to the world," he says.

"This craft is not just about architecture. It's a symbol of Chinese ingenuity and culture."

Contact the writer at yangfeiyue@chinadaily.com.cn