Yang Yuzhui, a 70-year-old Xiamen citizen, is dedicated to the study and craft of wind-driven wooden sailing boats which were popular in ancient times. [Photo/xmnn.cn]

Yang Yuzhui, a 70-year-old man living in Xiamen, Fujian province, has been using his handmade model ships to tell stories from the Maritime Silk Road.

Carrying the structure and spirit of ancient Chinese sailing ships, Yang's handicrafts strictly follow the archaic style and use only specially selected wood. Thirty of them have already joined museum collections.

Yang was born into a shipbuilding family; his last name, zhui, meaning awl in Chinese, implies one of the five main tools used in shipbuilding and carries the hope from his family to continue their maritime connections.

Yang's family moved to Xiamen following the founding of the People's Republic of China and Yang, then a young man, answered the country's call to join the army.

He served in the navy and planned to follow in his father's steps after his term, but the fast-growing international marine industry overshadowed the traditional wooden boat business and Yang decided to shift his focus to the study of sailing boats that dominated freight transport along the ancient Maritime Silk Road, a conduit for trade and cultural exchange between China's southeastern coastal areas and foreign countries.

Engaged in the study and craft of wind-driven sailing boats for decades, Yang accumulated a cornucopia of experiences from former records, data and fieldwork, and became the inheritor of this intangible heritage, as well as a senior member of the Chinese Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers.

Riding the wave of China's Belt and Road Initiative, Yang has set sail with his miniature fleet on a cultural voyage and shares the stories behind his handicrafts with foreign visitors.

Yang's wooden models strictly follow the structure and spirit of ancient Chinese sailing boats. [Photo/xmnn.cn]