A set of 13 miniature teapots made by Zhu Ciyuan, a masterful craftsman in Huzhou's Wuxing district. The teapots bear the full text of The Classic of Tea, which contains over 6,300 characters. [Photo/WeChat account: huzhoufabu]

Zhu Ciyuan, an artisan from Huzhou's Wuxing district, recently inscribed the full text of The Classic of Tea on 13 miniature teapots.

Many have hailed this as an astounding feat as The Classic of Tea – which is believed to be the world's first monograph on tea culture - contains over 6,300 Chinese characters.

The smallest teapot in the set has been inscribed with characters that are just a millimeter long. The tiny characters can only be read with the help of a powerful magnifying glass.

According to Zhu, it took him about half a year to craft the teapots out of stones and another six months to carve the characters on them.

Zhu, who started microscopic carving more than 40 years ago, has won six gold awards at national level fine products exhibitions and obtained two national patents. He has even broken the Guinness World Record twice.                                      

Zhu Ciyuan reads characters engraved on a teapot with a powerful magnifying glass. [Photo/WeChat account: huzhoufabu]

What a miniature teapot is like under a powerful magnifying glass. [Photo/WeChat account: huzhoufabu]

A miniature teapot on a man's hand. [Photo/WeChat account: huzhoufabu]