Two livestreamers introduce their stone seals to online customers. [Photo/Tide News]

Qingtian stone carving, a traditional craft originating from Qingtian county – administered by Lishui city in East China's Zhejiang province – is gaining more and more popularity and attention online through livestreaming platforms.

The craft uses Qingtian stone – known as one of the "four famous stones" in China – for its warm texture, soft and hard qualities, rich colors and unique patterns. It is regarded as being both the best material for seal carving and the ideal material for stone carving.

At the Zhixiangfangcun · Gongfu Workshop in Qingtian's Shankou town, local stone carvings are displayed and sold through 56 livestreaming rooms. The workshop covers an area of 4,800 square meters and more than 900 e-commerce merchants operate from there.

"The sales model of 'live streaming + stone carving + stone culture' is our secret to getting more orders," said Liu Zhou, secretary of the Party branch of the Shankou Stone Carving Industry Association.

He said that they combined the raw stone processing, sales, stone carving and livestreaming as one process. Liu added that this broke the shackles holding back conventional sales channels and injected new vitality into the stone carving sector.

The workshop is said to not only drive local industry revitalization but also provide employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for many villagers around it.

According to Liu, they will move to attract more young people to come to the workshop to start businesses and develop them in the future.