The maker of miniature worlds

Hakka bamboo artisan carves space for ancient art in modern life, Yang Feiyue reports.

The slender bamboo panel almost seems to breathe under the ingenious ministrations of Guo Yingxiong's knife.

In his workshop in the Zhanggong district of Ganzhou, Jiangxi province, the 58-year-old conjures worlds that erase time, in which rivers flow eternally, the current rendered so delicately that it almost shimmers with actual movement. An ancient bridge arches over the river, carrying the rhythms of daily life unfolding on a bamboo sheet — a tea peddler's weathered face glistens as he adjusts his shoulder pole, an elderly man navigates wooden planks on his bicycle, and young lovers sit entwined on the bridge's edge, their silhouettes backlit by the sun that stains the river the color of molten copper.

Peering closer at this miniature world, you will notice the gnarled roots of a banyan tree clutching the riverbank, and the bridge's lineage traced in vermilion calligraphy.