A Chinese artist has won a place in the Guinness Book of Records after creating the world's longest wooden carving.
Zheng
Chunhui, a famous wood carver, spent four years creating the artwork
which is over 40ft long and made from a single tree trunk.
The
scene is actually a copy of the famous Chinese painting 'Along the
River During the Qingming Festival' which was created over 1,000 years
ago.
Chinese artist Zheng Chunhui took four years to
complete this wood carving which is a copy of a famous painting. It has
won the Guinness World Record for the longest wooden carving and
measures over 40ft
The work is actually a copy of the famous
Chinese painting 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival' which
was produced by Zhang Zeduan during the Song dynasty
Though
it has been replicated many times, Chunhui's version, which is made
from a single piece of tree trunk, is surely the most spectacular.
The intricate work features boats, bridges, building and even 550 individually carved people.
The piece measures 12.286 meters long, is 3.075 meters tall at it highest point, and is also 2.401 meters wide.
The
original painting, referred to as the 'Chinese Mona Lisa' because of
its fame, was completed during the Song Dynasty by artist Zhang Zeduan.
The painting, which was originally done on a
scroll and designed to be steadily unwound by the viewer, is
historically significant because it shows the day-to-day lives of rich
and poor people in ancient Chin
The artwork features buildings, boats, bridges
and 550 individually carved people who are shown herding animals,
carrying cargo shopping in markets and going about their daily business
in a snapshot of ancient Chinese life
It is painted on a hand scroll
and was designed to be looked at by slowly unrolling the paper from
right to left, an arm's length at a time, like an ancient comic strip.
It
is considered of huge historical importance as it documents the
day-to-day lives of Chinese people, both rich and poor, 900 years ago.
Several
later versions were created but with scenes added from the Ming and
Qing times, in keeping with the Chinese tradition of contemporary
artists reworking ancient masterpieces.
While Chunhui's version will be easy to distinguish for obvious reasons, it doesn't add any scenes from modern-day China.
The
work was awarded the world record on Thursday last week as part of
Guinness World Records Day, set up to commemorate the day the book of
records became the best-selling copyright book.
The original has been replicated many times as
China has a cultural tradition whereby contemporary artists replicate
old masterpieces while adding images from their own age. Though Chunhui
hasn't added anything from modern-day China, his version should be
fairly recognisable
Other
records broken on the same day included the most hula hoops spun
simultaneously, which was broken in the UK, by the ‘Marawa's Majorettes’
dance group, who spun 264 hula hoops between them.
The award for the largest gathering of people dressed as penguins also went to the UK after 325 people dressed up.
The
most swords swallowed underwater went to Australia, while the USA took
home the recognition of largest collection of pizza boxes, as Scott
Wiener had 595 boxes.
Other
categories included the longest basketball shot, which was won by
Harlem Globetrotters player Corey Law with a throw of 109 feet 9
inches, along with fastest 100m running on all fours, a most people
dressed as ninjas.
The
record for most darts caught by one hand in one minute and most upright
bottles walked across were, oddly, broken at the same time and by the
same person.
Chunhui's carving was unveiled at the Palace Museum in Beijing, the same location as the scroll on which it is based.
