China Tiger Painting: Big cat art brings profits to rural village

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A small village in central China's Henan province is finding success in a peculiar way. More than half of its residents are earning both money and fame by painting tigers.

This is a tiger village--with no tiger in the real sense--but plenty of painted ones. Wang Jianmin has been painting for 40 years. He first started as a landscape painter, and is one of the first in the village to turn to painting tigers.

WANG JIANMIN FARMER PAINTER, MINQUAN COUNTY "The Tiger is an auspicious animal in Chinese culture and many families want a portrait of a tiger when they move to a new home to bring good luck. At first, there were only four people painting tigers, and now, that number has grown to hundreds and even thousands if you count painters in neighboring villages."

Many farmers in the area have found success in this niche industry, placing Wanggongzhuang in the top ten Chinese villages for nature-based art.

LIU YAN DEPUTY PARTY CHIEF, BEIGUAN TOWN, MINQUAN COUNTY "Wanggongzhuang has around 1,300 people and nearly 900 of them are engaged in painting tigers. They can sell about 80 thousand pieces per year, bringing in 70 million yuan in income."

The booming tiger painting business is attracting more and more young people to the industry. 33-year-old Wang Jianhui started painting when he was in primary school.

WANG JIANHUI FARMER PAINTER, MINQUAN COUNTY "I started painting when I was in the third grade. Before, our village was poor compared to neighboring villages, but now we have exceeded them, and have become the richest village in the area."

LIU XINQING MINQUAN COUNTY, HENAN "Despite the great fortunes brought on by tiger painting, it is not the only thing flourishing in this village. A complete value chain of painting is being developed here, creating opportunities for those who don't know how to paint to be part of the business."

Wang Ximei is one of the first who benefited from the booming tiger business by offering portrait-framing services.

WANG XIMEI FARMER, MINQUAN COUNTY "We have been in the portrait-framing business for 13 years now, and have saved enough money to build this new house, another apartment and a car. We feel much happier now."

At first, no one expected painting tigers could bring in so much luck and life-changing experiences to so many. But when it did, it inspired many of those who tried it.

WANG JIANMIN FARMER PAINTER, MINQUAN COUNTY "I have full confidence in our tiger-painting village, and I will never leave this village because I have so many students here. We have created our own style of painting tigers after many years of efforts."

An industry such as tiger painting: this type of approach can provide a new direction for rural development in China. Liu Xinqing CGTN, Minquan, Henan province.