The woodcarving ancient opera stage created by Ge Zhaolong, an artisan from Ningbo, won the Shanhua Award. [Photo/Ningbo Fabu]

Ge Zhaolong, an artisan from Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province, recently won the Shanhua Award, the highest folk art honor in China, for a woodcarving.

The award-winning piece is an ornate ancient opera stage created by using the traditional opera stage building technique, which is listed as a provincial-level intangible cultural heritage. The stage took Ge five years to complete.

The stage, made using five different types of wood including camphor wood, cedarwood and cherrywood, was built using various woodcarving techniques. Ge also applied mortise-and-tenon skills when building the stage, using interlocking joints to connect pieces of wood instead of nails.

Ge has participated in construction, repair and protection efforts for ancient opera stages in Ninghai county, which is home to 125 ancient opera stages, for more than 20 years.

He expressed hope that all the ancient architecture will be revitalized through restoration.

The Shanhua Award is a top-tier award for Chinese folk art issued by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association every two years. To date, 11 artworks created by Ningbo artisans have won the award.