Artisan hand crafts lanterns

In an age of computer-controlled graphics, each of the craftsman's creations are unique

A disorderly pile of thin iron wire, resembling spaghetti on a large plate, sits on the ground before 56-year-old Guo Erniu.

He considers the mound for a few minutes, draws some designs on paper, then picks up one end of the flexible 4.5-millimeter wire and starts to cut and bend. He works slowly, but steadily. In an hour, the shape of a monkey - the bones of a lantern - rises from the heap.