Documentary brings Shanxi buildings to life

Hit series follows six people on voyages of discovery through province's historical assets

As one of the cradles of Chinese civilization, the North China province of Shanxi is home to the largest number of ancient buildings in the country.

A recently released documentary, which was produced by Shanxi International Communication Center and supervised by the Information Office of the Shanxi Provincial People's Government, brought these precious assets to life through stories told by narrators from China and overseas.

The documentary, titled Spokesperson for Ancient Buildings, debuted online on May 19, World Tourism Day. It immediately became a hit on the internet, garnering 170 million views within several days of its release.

The documentary, consisting of five episodes, features six figures' tours of ancient architectural sites throughout the province. It tries to decipher and interpret the ancient buildings using the narrators' observations — from grand Buddhist temples to exquisitely designed residential buildings, from delicately crafted structural components to rich-colored ornaments.

One episode features ancient architecture researcher Wang Yongxian visiting Guangsheng Temple in Hongtong county. Guangsheng is a complex consisting of the upper and lower temples.

In the documentary, Wang said he first visited the temple in 1974 and the trip led to a strong bond between him and the site.

Wang, now in his 70s, has opened an account on the social media platform of Douyin to promote knowledge of Shanxi's ancient buildings. He is known among his 1.7 million followers as Dougong Grandpa, for his fondness of the dougong bracket — a kind of structural component unique to China's ancient buildings.

As he entered the temple in the documentary, he said he is returning to mark his enduring connection with the site.

"When I first met it, I was a young man in my 20s," Wang said. "More than 50 years passed in a flash. Its charm remains the same but I've grown old."

He recalled that in 1974, he took part in a large campaign among Chinese painters to copy the murals in Guangsheng Temple. More than 200 painters participated in the work and he was among the youngest in the team.

After the campaign, the mural copies were displayed at many overseas exhibitions as part of an international exchange program. "Spectators from all over the world gave the thumbs-up to ancient Chinese culture and Chinese mural art," Wang said.

As a young man, Wang was captivated by the exquisite murals and introduced to the world of ancient architecture. At that moment, he realized that dedicating his life to this field was worthwhile.

In the lower temple, Wang said the Feihong Pagoda — or Flying Rainbow Pagoda — is worth the attention from all visitors.

"The Feihong Pagoda was built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It is a brick and stone structure with a very intelligent design that can withstand earthquakes of magnitude eight or nine," Wang said. "It is adorned with glazed tiles in various colors and glazed ornaments featuring figures of deities, humans, beasts and birds."

He added that this pagoda is famous worldwide for its glazed art and it is also the tallest and most beautiful glazed pagoda in the world.

He noted that the most splendid part is the glazed ceiling structure inside the pagoda. "This is an octagonal, well-shaped structure with five layers, featuring three layers of Buddhist figures supported by two layers of dougong brackets," he said.

Wang has been promoting ancient architectural culture through social media for five years. When asked why he is engaged in social media at such an old age, Wang said: "I feel that helping people understand and love ancient architecture is a very meaningful endeavor. It's something I can't stop doing once I start."

Another episode of the documentary features painter Wang Kun's tour of the temple of Xiaoxitian in Xixian county.

Wang Kun is an oil painter who has largely drawn inspiration from Shanxi's ancient architecture. He recently launched an art exhibition titled Heavenly Elegance, featuring Shanxi's cultural landmarks including Buddha statues in Mount Wutai in Xinzhou city, Buddha sculptures in Tianlong Mountain Grottoes in Taiyuan and the statue of Avalokitesvara in Pingyao's Shuanglin Temple. His exhibition has received more than 20,000 visits in the two months since it opened.

In this episode, he wanted to add to his exhibition by portraying the Xiaoxitian Temple in Xixian county.

In Xiaoxitian, he met the chief of the Xixian cultural heritage protection bureau, Wang Jin, who has been engaged in the protection of local cultural relics for 46 years.

Wang Jin showed the painter the most splendid part of the temple — the hanging sculptures in the grand hall.

Seeing the sculptures, Wang Kun said: "I have visited many ancient buildings and temples, and saw numerous colored sculptures. But here, within the 169-square-meter hall, there are nearly 2,000 gilded hanging sculptures of various sizes — from the largest of more than 3 meters tall to the smallest the size of a thumb. Each is intricately carved, vivid and lifelike, presenting a scene of the celestial and Buddhist realm."

He imagined how craftsmen of ancient times using inclined angels and gold paste-gilding techniques to imbue these hanging sculptures with unique charm.

"Beauty can indeed transcend time and space, touching our hearts directly," Wang Kun said. "I hope my paintings can serve as a bridge connecting the past and the present, linking Xiaoxitian with the world."

Another spokesperson for Shanxi's ancient buildings is Qin Zhizhen, a painter who has dedicated himself to capturing Shanxi's ancient architecture and has portrayed more than 100 ancient buildings in the province over the years.

He recently learned about Tiefo Temple, an ancient building that had been hidden for a long time in history and was rediscovered by chance. He had a tour of this site in Gaoping county to explore the cultural treasures and tales of preservation.

When arriving in Gaoping, he was told that the temple is in a small village and he was then lucky enough to visit a family who have played roles in protecting the site over five generations.

Receiving Qin, Meng Xuezhen, a member of the family, said she is happy to show an artist around because those who brought this temple to light were a group of art teachers and students from the Central Academy of Fine Arts.

"It was in early 2010 that the students and teachers found this small temple in this village," Meng said. "Before that, the colored sculptures of Tiefo Temple had never been seen in any art book, academic paper or archaeological report."

In 2016, the academy held a world art history exhibition in Beijing, where Tiefo Temple became the highlight and its classical sculptures amazed the world.

In the temple, Qin noticed that the colored statues are made of iron. Their hair and other ornaments like ribbons and flames are made from iron wires, unlike those in other temples that are mainly made of clay or wood.

"The technique has added flexibility, more layers and a sense of space, ultimately pushing the detail to the extreme and forming the unique visual impact and historical charm of Tiefo Temple," he said.

Qin was then told that the temple has gradually become a source of inspiration for many creative cultural products, including the hit video game Black Myth: Wukong.

Qin said he also wants to create some cultural and creative products related to this temple.

In another episode of the documentary, Zhang Yin, a young woman growing up near the Jinci Temple in Taiyuan city, talked about the site as if talking about family assets.

Jinci in the southwest of Taiyuan is a complex of ancient Chinese architecture, sculpture, fresco and inscription, as well as a cultural compilation of religion, politics and family clans.

It was first built in the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) in memory of Ji Yu, a prince of the Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century-256 BC), at the site of the kingdom's capital, for his commitment to improving local people's livelihoods.

When visiting Jinci, she brought with her an album of faded photos, which were mostly taken at the temple, as well as her son.

"When I was a young girl, this was the place that accompanied my growth," Zhang said. "These photos tell the story of my childhood and my connection with the temple."

She talked about the temple with exact figures, saying: "On this four-hectare land, there are 98 buildings from the Song (960-1279), Yuan (1271-1368), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, more than 100 statues and 122 ancient trees, including 29 trees that are more than 1,000 years old".

In the temple, she looked for the places where she had her photos taken decades ago, including a 400-year-old opera stage, an iron statue of a warrior created 900 years ago, a cross-shaped bridge over the pond of Yuzhao, and the Never-Aging Spring.

"The Jinci Temple witnessed my childhood," she said. "Each brick and beam seem to hold stories of the past while whispering to the future."

During the trip, Zhang told stories about Jinci and sang ballads relating to the temple to her son, hoping he can develop an attachment to the temple and to the ancient culture of Shanxi.

The fifth episode of the documentary features two foreign tourists on adventure in Zezhou county in the southern Shanxi city of Jincheng.

Gojayeva Bagul from Turkmenistan and Ryan Michael Wagner from the United States are two international students at Shanxi University based in the provincial capital of Taiyuan. They planned their tour of Zezhou by randomly selecting villages and towns on the map.

The plan proved to offer surprises, when, according to Bagul, they saw "ancient castles and ancient trees stand tall and ancient towns buzz with the warmth of human life".

Bagul arrived at a village called Yedi and visits the temple of Daimiao, where she found a huge ginkgo tree.

A local resident told her that the tree is about 6,200 years old, probably among the oldest in the country.

Daimiao literally means the Temple of Taishan Mountain. Taishan in Shandong province is one of the five holy mountains in China.

This was something that confused Bagul. She could not understand why a temple of a Shandong mountain was built in Shanxi.

The local told her that it had been a tradition for ancient emperors to visit Taishan Mountain and pay tribute to heaven.

"Yedi is midway of the journey between Chang'an (today's Xi'an in Shaanxi province, which had served as the national capital during several dynasties) and Taishan Mountain," the resident said. "Legend has it that, a certain emperor arrived here on his way to Taishan Mountain. Seeing the huge ginkgo tree, he realized this is a place of great feng shui and decided to build a Daimiao Temple here, hoping to offer a home away home for the Taishan deity."

The temple is home to a number of ancient buildings, including an opera stage that is more than 800 years old.

Wagner chose another route, visiting the village of Dongnan in Zezhou's Jincun township.

He discovered the temple of Erxian, with structures featuring characteristics of the Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234).

At the temple, inside the main hall, he found a small yet exquisitely crafted pavilion featuring a large number of dougong brackets.

He was told that it's a masterpiece of Chinese architecture, using more dougong brackets than any other structure of its kind in the country.

"It is like a heavenly palace brought down to Earth," Wagner said.

The hall is also home to a large number of painted sculptures created in the same era as the architecture — probably the Song Dynasty.

Wagner was amazed with the cultural assets of Jincun township. "This small town has such a rare density of ancient villages and historical buildings," he said. "It's really unique in China."

Wagner and Bagul then met at Daiyang Ancient Town. They found that this town has an amazing number of old residential buildings.

The town is said to have a history of about 2,600 years and now has 800-plus well-preserved ancient courtyards, a number earning it the fame as the "living fossil of ancient Chinese towns".

Ancient as it is, Daiyang is a place where old traditions are still alive. In the episode, the pair joined locals in traditional dance and enjoyed their way of treating guests with warmth and hospitality, as what has been done for many centuries.

Zhang Xin contributed to this story.