A whittle goes a long
way! Chinese wood art breaks record for longest carving out of single piece of
timber
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 on 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 recognizable
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.