Thread is intertwined through the stretchers.[Photo provided to China Daily]

"I hope the beauty of the paper umbrella will be appreciated by more people, and it is an umbrella that can withstand a storm," Liu says.

From selecting the bamboo, cutting it into sticks, coating paper with seed oil to folding the paper canopy, it takes more than 15 days and 72 steps for three or four craftspeople to make a traditional paper umbrella, according to Liu.