Yang's carving tools. [Photo/WeChat account: taicangdaily]

However, it was only after his retirement that Yang started concentrating on carving and he has been inserting porcelain chips into red wood for only three years.

A three-square-meter bicycle shed is his studio, crowded with a working table and his numerous creations.

His first in-laid redwood article was a bowl made with chips from a blue and white bowl of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).