Small town in E China’s Anhui famous for millennium-old craft of making handmade wooden combs

A craftsman carves patterns on a wooden comb in Langqiao town, Jingxian county, east China’s Anhui Province. (People’s Daily Online/Miao Zijian)

Langqiao, a small town with only 30,000 residents in Jingxian county, east China’s Anhui Province, has gained fame at home and abroad with its profound history and millennium-old craft of making exquisite handmade wooden combs.

Xitou village is China’s largest wooden comb production base, with its market share of wooden combs accounting for nearly 70 percent in the world.

Dating back more than 1,000 years, the craft of making Langqiao wooden combs involves 28 steps.

In 2014, the craft of making Langqiao wooden combs was listed as a province-level intangible cultural heritage of Anhui.