Stone-carving skills: Beijing

Published December 9, 2011

Sculptors work at an outdoor workshop in the town of Dangcheng in Quyang county, 240 km (150 miles) southwest of Beijing December, 2011.

Dangcheng applied the traditional stone-carving skills of this rocky party of Hebei province to boom as an exporter of ornate statues, busts, fountains and friezes to Europe and north America.

Now this corner of northern China is struggling with the international slump and financial turmoil in formerly big markets, especially Italy and other euro zone countries. - Photos by Reuters

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