“Some of these ship models are to be exhibited in Yiwu Cultural Fair，”said the elder brother，who attended the cultural fair last year with his brother and received satisfactory results. The workshop aimed to build small wooden sailing vessels when it was set up in 1900. Cen Guohe and Cen Wuguo inherited the business in 1975， becoming the fourth generation of the wooden vessel workshop of Cen family. So far，the four generations of Cen family have built over 1，000 wooden sailing vessels of all kinds.
The Cen brothers tend to build the ancient vessels in an archaic way，but with innovative philosophy. In their opinion，considerations must be given to both the cultural inheritance and the economic benefits，which means they need to protect the techniques of ancient vessel building as well as developing it as an industry. According to sources，the wooden vessel workshop of Cen family has been included on the list of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage and become a base for Zhoushan intangible cultural inheritance.
“Our products conform to the fair’s theme and aim，which are expected to enrich the exhibition with their unique cultural style，”said Cen Guohe. The simulated ancient vessels made exclusively by hand contain Chinese traditional ship culture，thus having a high reserve value，he added.
