Master craftsmen at Palace Museum gain widespread attention after sharing videos showcasing repairs to antique clocks

It has already been six years since the TV documentary “Masters in the Forbidden City” first aired. Even so, Chinese audiences are still very keen about learning more about the craftwork involved in the repairing of antique timepieces even up until this day.

Recently, videos presenting craftsmen busily restoring antique clocks inside the Chinese capital’s Palace Museum have gone viral on social media, capturing the attention of many viewers with the magical skills demonstrated by the master craftsmen.

Craftsman Qi Haonan focuses his full attention on repairing a clock. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

One of the craftsmen, Qi Haonan, who has filmed and published more than 800 such videos since 2019, explained that the latest video is one that recorded the process of himself and his colleagues restoring clocks that belonged to the Hall of Mental Cultivation inside the Forbidden City.

As the video shows, the clock is decorated with miniature sculptures of the Eight Immortals from ancient Chinese mythology. After the antique timepiece was repaired, the sculptures could be seen revolving around the gears of the clock, which also played a pleasant musical tune.

Qi said that the video of his most widely viewed by netizens is one in which he and his teacher, Wang Jin, were together repairing a clock inside of which a little human figurine could be seen doing magic when the clock struck at set times. “The repair process was very complicated. We dismantled more than 1,000 parts and we had to be very careful to assemble them because even a small error would affect the performance of the clock,” Qi explained.

It took Qi and Wang nearly one year to finally repair the prized clock.

Photo shows a clock from the UK designed in the shape of a dressing table mirror. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

Wang, born in 1961, is a third-generation inheritor of the craftwork techniques for repairing clocks housed at the Palace Museum. Wang said that he was delighted to learn that Qi has managed to popularize the craft through his videos circulated online.

Wang has been repairing clocks at the Palace Museum for more than 40 years. Wang was scheduled to retire in 2021, but he chose instead to prolong his career. “I’ve been doing this all my life, and I love this job. As long as my health permits, I’ll always be here,” Wang expressed.

Photo shows clock repairing craftsmen Wang Jin and Qi Haonan. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

Qi, born in 1981, majored in mechanical automation at the North China University of Technology in Beijing. In 2005, Qi became a member of the cultural relics restoration department at the Palace Museum.

“We work between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. every day. Sometimes when I encountered a tough problem, I would prefer to take a walk outside and then afterwards get back to working,” Qi said.

“Patience is a very important quality for a cultural relics repairer. If we attempt to finish a restoration process hastily, we may potentially damage the cultural relic while repairing it,” said Wang.

While repairing clocks, the craftsmen would always make sure that the drawers of the workbenches were open in case any small parts from the clocks fell off from the workbench.

Wang Jin devotes all of his undivided attention to repairing a clock. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

When the documentary program “Masters in the Forbidden City” aired in 2016, Wang and Qi were the only two staff members working in the clock repairing department at the Palace Museum. “In 2017, more job seekers submitted job applications. Nowadays, my teacher has three apprentices and I have two,” said Qi.

Photo shows master craftsman Qi Haonan teaching clock repairing skills to his apprentices. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

There are more than 1,500 antique clocks inside the Palace Museum. Over the past years, Wang repaired more than 300 clocks and Qi restored more than 100 clocks.