Mudiao is traditional Chinese wood-carving, a form of sculpture

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

, and is still practiced today.

Woods Used

Generally, hardwoods are chosen that are stable and moderately dense, and hence difficult to carve. However, for some carvings aromatic woods such as the tung tree are chosen. Typical woods include:

• Nanmu
  Nanmu
  Nanmu is a type of wood that was frequently used for boat building, architectural woodworking and wood art in China. Ming Dynasty era writings indicate this wood as superior durable softwood...
  
  , durable softwood
• Zitan (Red sandalwood)
• Zhangmu (Camphor tree, Cinnamomum camphora)
• Bomu
• Yinxing
  Ginkgo
  Ginkgo , also spelled gingko and known as the Maidenhair Tree, is a unique species of tree with no close living relatives...
  
   (Ginkgo biloba)
• Hongmu
  Pterocarpus
  Pterocarpus is a pantropical genus of trees in the family Fabaceae, most of which yield valuable timber traded as padauk ; other common names are mukwa or narra...
  
   (Padauk, Redwood or Blackwood), Suan Zhi in Cantonese
  Standard Cantonese
  Cantonese, or Standard Cantonese, is a language that originated in the vicinity of Canton in southern China, and is often regarded as the prestige dialect of Yue Chinese....
  
  
• Longan
  Longan
  Dimocarpus longan, commonly known as the longan, is a tropical tree native to South and Southeast Asia, in the Indomalaya ecozone known for its edible fruit.-Vernacular names:The fruit is known as longan or longyan in English...
  
   (Dragon Eye)
• Mahogany
  Mahogany
  The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
  
  

Methodology

Classical mudiao is begun by selecting a whole block of wood, sawing it into a regular shape, such as a square

Square (geometry)

In geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral. This means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles...

 flat board, then using edged carving tools to sculpt pictures either in bas-relief or in three-dimensions.

Burls, known as Ying wood or " Yingzi" from a variety of trees are used for carving figurines and standalone sculptures. While coming from any kind of wood, burls from Phoebe

Phoebe (plant)

Phoebe is a genus of evergreen trees and shrubs belonging to the Laurel family, Lauraceae.-Overview:They are widespread in tropical and subtropical Asia and neotropical America region...

trees are the most common. The beautiful lines of bird's-eye knots that look like a string of grapes in Phoebe burls are often called "grape face".