Cloisonné enamel works shown at the opening ceremony of the "The Great Spirit of Craftsman - Eight Marvelous Handicrafts of Beijing" exhibition. The exhibition is held at the Capital Museum in Beijing from August 9 to November 9, 2016. [Photo by Wang Kaihao/China Daily]

Hou now helps with the restoration of royal furniture at the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City. When a layer of paint dries up, he still uses old ways to polish the surface — mixing bean oil and flour. But even when laquerware largely belonged to the upper class, they were found in daily-use articles, he says.

"When we revitalize traditional craftsmanship, we need to respect their functionality rather than merely treating them as fine art pieces."

Yu Jing, who runs an embroidery studio in the capital, says people today are keen to see traditional handicrafts as part of their daily decorations. That gives artisans the opportunity to keep the crafts alive.

"Before making an embroidery piece, for example, one has to consider where it can be used," she says, adding that in the olden days, artisans usually didn’t design but followed certain patterns or paintings.

"But today, we need more expertise to design the patterns at the very beginning, and make the clothes in the end."