A bark painting shows a local building in Arxan city in Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo by Jiang Lu/chinadaily.com.cn]

Bark paintings made from white birch trees helped many villagers overcome poverty in White Wolf town, Arxan city, Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

White Wolf town is rich in forest resources, especially white birch trees. Making paintings from bark chippings scaling off these trees is environmentally friendly and also beneficial by providing employment to some locals.

The 50-year-old Zhao Guihua is a native of White Wolf town, and also one of the first villagers here to learn to make bark paintings.

Like many people, in the past, Zhao mainly relied on odd jobs to earn a little money, as her life was difficult then.

As White Wolf town began to develop a forest culture industry, bark painting entered her life.

Zhao Guihua makes a bark painting featuring cranes. [Photo by Jiang Lu/chinadaily.com.cn]

Zhao said that after 2008 she started learning to make bark paintings, which requires a lot of patience. Sometimes she spent the whole day producing a work, which she considers quite fun.

"I can earn about 3,000 yuan ($464) a month by doing bark paintings, which has improved my life a lot," Zhao said.

At present, annual sales of bark paintings in White Wolf town can reach hundreds of thousands of yuan.

Bark paintings of animals are seen. [Photo by Jiang Lu/chinadaily.com.cn]

In 2018, White Wolf bark painting was recognized as a form of intangible cultural heritage of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.