Many of the artworks produced in Beijing's Heiqiao art zone are public sculptures that will dot the country's new urban centers. Photos by Jiang Dong / China Daily

Craftsmen in Beijing's art zones work hard to develop their trade despite a struggling global economy. Wang Ru chats with the makers of our monuments.

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In a factory workshop in northeast Beijing's Heiqiao art zone, a group of workers has nearly finished a set of clay sculptures, including three 5.5-meter-high horses and a giant statute of Genghis Khan.

Zhang Bao, 31, with his blue jacket spattered with clay, uses a laser pointer to direct his workers climbing on the iron supports around the statues.

The artworks are for a local government sector of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region - once the cradle of Genghis Khan's formidable empire.

The contract price of the sculptures is about 10 million yuan ($1.6 million), but Zhang and his team will only get a tiny slice of the pie.

The heating system in the workshop doesn't work. The only heat is from a coal stove.

"It is to prevent the clay from being frozen, not for our warmth," Zhang says. The quality clay is more expensive than flour, he adds.