Chinese art form refuses to be snuffed out

Although powdered tobacco and the cumbersome boxes that first held it originated in the West, snuff bottles are a uniquely Chinese innovation.

And despite attempts to snuff out their presence over the centuries, the ornate works of art and symbols of one's place in society refuse to go away, lingering like wisps of smoke on a Manchu reading room ceiling - despite snuff being a smoke-free phenomenon. "In the early 1800s, during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), snuff bottles were used primarily by royalty and the upper classes.

But they soon became widespread due to cheaper prices, and a growing desire to display conspicuous consumption in a quest for upward social mobility," said Wang Ziyong, a master craftsman at the Hengshui Museum of Inside Painting Art in Hebei province. As a nonsmoker, and certainly no expert in snuff history - or films - I had to ask Wang what "inside painting" entailed.