Gradually, Xue's art rose to prominence in domestic and foreign markets, including Japan and Singapore. She also established a gourd pyrography association and has taught more than 100 local residents for free.

"In the future, I will introduce more modern planting technology to improve the scientific planting of gourds," she said. "I will also further research and teach gourd pyrography skills to help villagers increase their incomes."

She added: "I hope we can create a complete local gourd industry chain, showing more people the charm of Chinese traditional folk arts and crafts."