Yiliang county in Southwest China's Yunnan province has kept a traditional papermaking handicraft with the raw material of tree bark.

Producing a traditional handmade paper includes 72 individual processes and takes more than ten days.

Dai Anqi and his wife, Yang Yingbi, are inheritors of the craftsmanship. Together, they have practiced papermaking for more than 30 years.

According to the local residents of Yiliang county, there are approximately 20 families working on producing paper in the county. Every piece of handmade paper will be sold on the price between one to two yuan ($0.16 to $0.31).

The traditional handmade paper craftsmanship has been affected by modern papermaking machine technology and an increasing number of young people have been forced to leave the county to find work in other cities.

Dai and Yang both feel that more awareness is needed to protect handmade paper craftsmanship.

A local resident from Yiliang county makes paper. [Photo/ynci.cn]

Every Yiliang paper producer can expect to receive an income of approximately 30,000 yuan per year. [Photo/ynci.cn]

A man practices calligraphy with paper produced in Yiliang. [Photo/ynci.cn]

Edited by Jacob Hooson