According to historical records, China's tooth carving technology has a history of more than 3,000 years, and Guangzhou's tooth carving appeared a little later than that of the Central Plains, with a history of more than 2,000 years since the Jin Dynasty. Among the cultural relics unearthed from the tomb of Nanyue King in the Western Han Dynasty, there is a bundle of five large ivory, the largest of which is 126 cm long. According to identification, the origin of ivory is Africa, and it may have been shipped through the Maritime Silk Road. In addition, carved elephants, ivory figurines and residual tooth carvings have been unearthed. It can be seen that these ivory carvings are imported raw materials. If the identification is true, the history of Guangzhou tooth carving will be greatly promoted. In the past, people in Lingnan, especially those in Guangzhou and the Pearl River Delta, regarded ivory as an auspicious thing. It is believed that it can "ward off evil spirits and eliminate filth". The tooth carving introduced here refers to ivory carving. Guangzhou's ivory carving flourished in the late Ming Dynasty, and gradually became a famous specialty of Guangzhou through the development of past dynasties.

Before liberation, all ivory carvings in Guangzhou were operated by individual workshops, mainly on Daxin Road. After liberation, Guangzhou Municipal Government organized these small workshops to set up Daxin Ivory Carving Craft Factory, so as to conduct research and development in an organized and planned way, improve and develop Guangzhou's tooth carving art. Since then, the tooth carving technology has made remarkable progress and the production scale has also expanded.

Guangzhou's tooth carving has a strong Han color and exquisite Lingnan style. Most of them take Lingnan landscapes such as flowers and trees, rocks, dragon boats, pagodas and crab cages as themes, and are good at unique hollowing-out techniques. Among them, it is famous for carving ivory balls and painting boats, especially for its beautifully carved multi-layer ivory balls. Sculptors use a complete piece of ivory material to hollow out spheres of various specifications and levels. The smallest ivory ball has only two or three layers, and the largest has 40 layers. Each floor is engraved with various patterns such as dragons, phoenixes and flowers, which can be rotated flexibly. The 20-layer ivory ball carved by Guangzhou tooth carving artists won the special craft award as early as 19 15 Panama International Expo. Up to now, the number of ivory ball carvings in Guangzhou has reached 45. The museum is also a famous Guangzhou tooth carving work. The hull of the flower boat is shaped like a dragon. There are 2-7 floors of pavilions on board, with as many as 3000 people, flags, lights and so on. It is vivid and spectacular. In addition, there are whole tooth carvings carved from whole ivory, fishermen casting nets, crab cages, ancient ladies and so on.

Guangzhou ivory micro carving is also famous all over the country. In the early 1930s, Feng Gongxia, a famous micro-sculpture artist in Guangzhou, carved the full text of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's will with the word 154 on an ivory rice grain as big as a rice grain. He also carved a 25,000-word "* * * Declaration" on a 64-page ivory piece. His son Feng is also a master of micro-carving. He inherited his father's skill and created eighteen lifelike arhats, which were carved on ivory rice. These exquisite micro-carving works represent the highest level of ivory micro-carving in Guangzhou, which is amazing.

In 1980s, due to the rise of the global wildlife conservation movement, elephants were banned from hunting as protected wild animals. According to international regulations, no country can sell ivory and ivory products, and our government strictly abides by this regulation. In this case, Guangzhou's tooth carving technology, especially the ivory carving industry, has been severely hit, so we have to choose other materials to replace it and reluctantly continue this traditional craft. The 45-story ivory balls, pavilions and large flower boats have become unprecedented artistic treasures and unique products in the world.