Wuyuan wood carving is one of the three traditional carving arts – brick, stone, and wood – found in the ancient buildings of Wuyuan County, in southeast China's Jiangxi Province. Originating in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Wuyuan's three types of carvings, a national intangible cultural heritage, are a branch of China's Hui-style architectural art, predominantly used to decorate residences, official mansions, and ancestral halls.
Using techniques such as three-dimensional carving, relief carving, and hollow carving, the process involves dozens of meticulous steps, from material selection and polishing to drawing and carving. The subjects often depict landscapes, figures, flowers, and animals, vibrantly bringing interior spaces to life.
Large wood carvings typically use 100-year-old trees like maple, camphor, cypress, and chestnut, while finer carvings are made from materials such as nanmu, jujube, poplar, and peach trees. The design hierarchy of the carvings places dragons at the top, followed by figures, and then birds, flowers and vessels, creating a symbolic arrangement.