Chongqing - More than 30 volunteers from the Chongqing Cultural Relics Protection Volunteer Association visited the cultural relics in the Longchang and Luxian Counties in Sichuan Province on February 6 and exchanged experiences in cultural relics protection with their counterparts.
Volunteers visited the Longchang memorial archway. (Photo/Chongqing Cultural Relics Protection Volunteer Association)
"Longchang Memorial Archway is large in scale and has many types. It is the most exquisite archway I have seen so far," said Huang Zhihong, a volunteer of the Chongqing Cultural Relics Protection Volunteer Association.
The memorial archway was used to honor exploits, imperial examination results, benign governance, and loyalty in ancient China.
The archway, known as paifang or pailou in Chinese, might be composed of wood, brick, or stone, with or without glazed tiles, and was frequently inscribed with inscriptions on the middle beam.
Longchang of Sichuan Province was a historical traffic hub where county officials, gentry, and merchants erected stone monuments and built memorial archways. For hundreds of years, as many as 17 archways have survived to this present day. Huang Zhihong said that these archways that have survived many vicissitudes shocked her and inspired her to drive more people to pay attention to and protect the cultural heritage of Sichuan and Chongqing.
The volunteers then went to Luxian County in southeast Sichuan Province to experience the dragon's charm. There are numerous ancient bridges from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many of which have dragons etched into the stone. Until now, many dragon bridges across Luxian County's streams and rivers connect the cities and villages.
Led by cultural protection workers from Luxian County, the group came to Longnao Bridge in the county. Longnao Bridge was built in the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty and is now a key cultural relic protection unit. The bridge is a flat bridge of stone pier and stone beam type, with a total length of 54 meters, a height of about 5.3 meters, and a width of 1.9 meters. There are 12 piers in total, which are very exquisite. In addition, cultural relics such as Yuantong Temple and Qu's Manor in Luxian County also opened the eyes of cultural protection volunteers.
Volunteers visited the Longnao Bridge in Luxian County. (Photo/Chongqing Cultural Relics Protection Volunteer Association)
"The cultural heritage of Luxian County is ingenious, especially the Longnao Bridge. It made me feel the wisdom and ingenuity of ancient craftsmen," said Yuan Bin, a cultural protection volunteer. He felt a hearty pleasure from the cultural exploration trip in Sichuan province, "the excellent cultural heritage of the Bashu is waiting for us to discover, appreciate, publicize, and carry forward."
During the event, Chen Fenggui, director of the Luzhou Cultural Heritage Research and Protection Center, also talked with Wu Yuanbing, head of the Chongqing Cultural Relics Heritage Volunteer Association, on the research and protection of stone carvings in the rural area and the integration of culture and tourism.
Chen Fenggui said he was deeply touched by the passion and love shown by cultural heritage volunteers in Chongqing and admired the methods of protecting cultural heritage. This activity has positively promoted cultural exchanges between Sichuan and Chongqing and the integration of culture and tourism. "We look forward to cultural preservation volunteers in the Sichuan and Chongqing joining hands to help more Bashu cultural relics live in the present," he added.
(He Hanyue, as an intern, also contributed to the report.)