Traditional ship skills kept afloat by passion of artisan

FUZHOU－Zhang Guohui has been making ships, from vessels in excess of 30 meters, to model boats, for more than six decades.

"Every minute, I think about how to make it perfect," says the 77-year-old, an inheritor of the watertight-bulkhead technology of Chinese junk boats.

Hailing from a poor family in a fishing town in East China's Fujian province, Zhang started to make a living by fishing on the open seas when he was only 16, which is where he developed a keen interest in making boats.