Root carving is a traditional Chinese art form. It consists of carving and polishing tree roots into various artistic creations.

Using roots to make necessities has been in bud since primitive society. Like other artistic crafts, art of roots produced from primitive labor. The earliest root carvings are “辟邪” and “角形器” showing up in the Warring States Period.

In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, root carving works not only prevailed in folk, but they were also cherished by the governing class. In the Tang Dynasty, people laid emphasis on the natural forms of roots, cleverly taking advantage of the effect of corrosion and moth-eaten.

To the Song and Yuan Dynasties, art of root carving not only developed in the court and folk, but also appeared in grottoes and temples. Roots were used to carve the statues of Buddha, always comparing favorably with the clay.

Root carving preserves natural beauty. Ancient artists created lifelike and vivid works by a special technique using expression based on the roots' natural forms. This kind of creation is not completely artificial, but created by both human beings and nature.