Sandalwood, with its fine grain and lasting fragrance, is very much a part of Chinese culture. It has been made into furniture, its oil extracted for various uses.
Its popularity has led to over-harvesting, decimating the number of sandalwood trees.
In response, the private China Red Sandalwood Museum in east Beijing opened in 1999 to study and collect red sandalwood sculpture and classic furniture.
Covering an area of 9,569 square meters, the museum has a collection of more than a thousand red sandalwood models of ancient buildings collected over several decades by Curator Chan Laiwa.
In 2011, the red sandalwood sculpture was listed by China as a national intangible cultural heritage.
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China Red Sandalwood Museum
