Furniture of Gold Lacquer Inlay Art are displayed at the Beijing Gold Lacquer Inlay Art Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 10, 2024. Gold Lacquer Inlay Art, a main category of traditional Chinese lacquer art, has a history of more than 7,000 years. The Beijing gold lacquer inlay art, developing on the basis of the imperial art dating back to the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, has formed a classically elegant and splendid Beijing-style. The art has been applied to a wide range of aspects in life, from pillars in ancient buildings, screens, thrones and furniture in the palace, to tableware, tea sets, writing materials and jewelry in people's daily life.

Adopting pine as the body and covering it with natural lacquer, a Gold Lacquer Inlay artwork costs at least four months to finish through a series of processes such as color painting, inlaying and carving. In 2008, the craft was listed as a national-level intangible cultural heritage.

Hu Xin, born in 1957, is an inheritor of Gold Lacquer Inlay art. She entered the Beijing Gold Lacquer Inlay Co., Ltd. in 1976 after graduation to learn color painting from senior master Liu Xiheng. Over the 48 years of her career, Hu has achieved a new breakthrough on the craft that paints colors on gold foils. Many of her artworks, winning important prizes in China and abroad, have been collected by the National Museum of China.

Hu has trained about ten apprentices, some of whom have become arts and crafts masters in Beijing. In 2015, the Beijing Gold Lacquer Inlay Co., Ltd. started cooperation with Beijing Arts & Design Technology Institute in training new talents. As a visiting professor, Hu has given lectures every week in the institute since then. In 2019, Hu also set up a studio of her own. [Xinhua/Zhu Weixi]