When he was 19, he was apprenticing at a rosewood shop in Peitou. That year he visited the National Palace Museum for the first time. Observing the exquisite classical carvings of jade cabbages, ivory balls within balls, and walnut-shell carvings, he thought to himself: "If one of my carvings could be collected by the National Palace Museum, then my life would be fulfilled!"
十九歲那年，在北投一間紅木家具店當木雕師傅，第一次到台北故宮博物院參觀，當看到翠玉白菜、象牙球、核舟記等傳統精工細雕時，吳卿腦海中迴盪著：「假如我的雕刻作品，能夠被故宮博物院收藏，那這輩子就夠本了！」