Peng Chengzhi uses a bamboo stick to fluff a pile of cotton spread out on his working table in Zhangye Village of Shuangfeng County in Hunan Province on Jan. 10, 2016. [Photo by Li Jianxin/China.com.cn]

Editor's note: Fluffing cotton is a traditional handicraft in China, even though it is rarely seen in both urban and rural areas now. It used to be a very popular industry where workers fluffed cotton with bowstrings and turned a pile of cotton into a quilt. Nowadays, many quilts are made of synthetic fibers, silk or feather down and are sold in supermarkets. With highly-efficient machine production completely taking over manual fluffing, this folk handicraft has been gradually lost and is probably gone forever. Peng Zhicheng, a 69-year-old man from Shuangfeng County, Hunan Province, has been engaged in cotton fluffing for more than 50 years. He is probably the last generation who will inherit this traditional handicraft. In the following pictures, Peng displays his unique cotton-fluffing skills. More >>

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