`Made in Taiwan' and proud of it

The large-scale import of inexpensive wood carvings from China and Southeast Asian countries over the past decade has made the lives of Taiwanese wood carvers difficult.

In Sanyi (三義), the country's wood carving capital, some 80 percent of available wood carvings are imported, mainly from China and Vietnam. The majority of these are mass-manufactured articles with traditional themes, like Buddha statues, and imitations of works by Taiwanese wood carving masters.

To differentiate between original Taiwanese wood carvings and the often mass produced versions on the market, the Taiwan Wood-carving Association (台灣木雕協會) -- a Sanyi-based organization set up last November -- launched a wood carving certification system in December. Inspired by similar systems in Japan and South Korea, the association intends that the certificates will preserve the honor of Taiwanese wood carvers and giving their works extra value in a market inundated by low priced imports.

Wood carvings made in Taiwan range from several thousand NT dollars to several million, with most works costing from NT$30,000 to NT$150,000. A busy wood carver can earn around NT$2,000 a day. Chinese wood carvers typically earn 30 times less than this (around NT$67).

"A country's wood carvings gradually evolve from handicraft level to the level of art. Chinese wood carvings are still at the handicraft stage. What we see on the market are mostly factory-manufactured products. However, their low prices have caused Taiwanese wood carvers to suffer economically," said Yang Yung-tzai (楊永在), chief executive of the Taiwan Wood Carving

Association (TWCA).

"Over the past decade, many local wood carvers have gone to China and set up factories there producing handicraft-level works. Those who did not go learned to refine their craft into works of art," Yang said.

There is also a large number of wood carvings of dubious origin sold at retail stores. Yang said that some of these are commissioned by local wood carvers to be produced by factories in China, while others are unauthorized Chinese imitations of works by popular local artists. One wood carver even submitted a Chinese-made work to participate in the National Literature and Art Achievement Award (國家文藝獎), but was, fortunately, found out in time.

To help combat the problem of fakes, certificates of authenticity for wood carving works have been introduced by the TWCA to show that the works were made in the country, from start to finish, by a Taiwanese artist. They also detail the materials used. Though a neglected aspect for collectors, materials are important for pricing a work. Taiwanese beech timber, for example, is 20 times the price of its Vietnamese or Laotian counterparts.

Faking it

In the past, the only proof of a wood carving's authenticity were privately printed certificates that some stores and artists attached to the works. The most widespread device to prove that a carving is genuine, however, is the autograph, which, Yang said, can easily be faked.

To get a certificate of authenticity, judges and wood craftsmen at TWCA examine the carving styles, techniques and "artistic spirit," to determine whether or not the work was made abroad. A copy of the certificate is kept at the association's office for the reference of doubtful buyers. The association has issued 200 certificates so far, each costing the creator NT$600. There is no refund for failed applications and less than 2 percent of applications fail to gain certification.