Born Divine Craftsman

Gifted Artisan is a long urban supernatural novel by the web author Zhumo (real name Xie Quanzhang). It was serialized on 17K.com starting in 2009 and completed in October 2010, totaling about 2.48 million Chinese characters and over 800 chapters. A traditional-character volume edition was published in Taiwan by Cheng Bang Yuan Chuang–17K in several volumes. Grounded in traditional Chinese craft culture, the work adds fantastical elements such as mechanical arts and the Fengwen system, building an alternate world in which traditional craftsmen contend with mysterious forces. The protagonist, Xie Lang, comes from a craftsman's family; trained from childhood, he is skilled in all kinds of mechanical contrivances, and his deft hands "leave people unable to see through him or calculate his moves." At university he makes a living selling handmade goods to cover tuition and expenses while being drawn into a larger vortex: the Fengwen system centered on the Eight Arts created by Zhuge Liang, along with forging, knotting, and carving, intertwine with forces such as Tianji City and the Jiufang Tower, and through this he gradually grows into a legendary craftsman. With "winning wealth, power, and status with one's own two hands" as its throughline, the work weaves together street-level life, craft skills, and supernatural power, and also explores the place of traditional handicrafts under the impact of modern technology. The book is complete, and in simplified Chinese it has so far circulated mainly as a web serial and fan-made meticulously edited e-books.