World's largest lego enlivens iconic ancient Chinese painting

This photo taken on Sept. 23, 2024 shows part of the world's largest three-dimensional LEGO diorama of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" in New Town Plaza in Sha Tin, Hong Kong, south China. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

An ingeniously constructed LEGO brick rendition of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival," an iconic painting from the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1126), has been unveiled and is on display in Sha Tin, Hong Kong.

The world's largest three-dimensional LEGO diorama, as recognized by Guinness World Records, recreates many details of life from centuries ago, just as depicted in the painting.

HONG KONG, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- The National Day Golden Week has seen a highlight, with tourists flocking to New Town Plaza in Sha Tin, the eastern New Territories, to see for themselves another new Guinness World Record.

Here a long scroll of the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival," an iconic painting of Northern Song Dynasty (960-1126), unfolded and has been on display, ingeniously constructed straight from lego bricks.

Covering 47 square meters, the world's largest lego exhibit, shown from Sept. 25 through Oct. 31, has been the latest weekend and holiday hotspot, delicately piecing together a marvelous world where the old and the new converge.

For viewers, the exhibit is impressive in a way that it blends two vastly different cultural representatives from the East and the West: a masterpiece of ancient Chinese painting and a classic toy igniting childhood memories of Westerners.

This photo taken on Sept. 23, 2024 shows part of the world's largest three-dimensional LEGO diorama of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" in New Town Plaza in Sha Tin, Hong Kong, south China. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

"We rolled out this exhibit mainly to promote traditional Chinese culture through creative events, in a way that is more relaxed, entertaining and appealing to young people," said Tania Wan, deputy general manager of Personal Banking and Wealth Management with Bank of China (Hong Kong), which initiated the program.

As people walk along the 26-meter-long and three-dimensional diorama made from up to 3 million lego bricks, they can picture themselves in bustling streets centuries ago, where vendors were selling melons and kids were playing hide and seek.

"There were myriad depictions of people in all walks of life going about their daily activities and no two objects are identical," Hong Kong local surnamed Chung told Xinhua. "Everything seemed to be brought to life within seconds."

Pointing at a two-storey building with a front door decorated with colorful ribbons, Li Chun-tung, an art lecturer at the University of Hong Kong, said, "This was one of the busiest restaurant then, with decorations typical of taverns and bars in Nothern Song Dynasty. It was among many buildings and structures that were vividly restored in this model."

This photo taken on Sept. 23, 2024 shows part of the world's largest three-dimensional LEGO diorama of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" in New Town Plaza in Sha Tin, Hong Kong, south China. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

The lego diorama recaptures many details of life over centuries ago, much the same as those depicted in the painting. There were various trades including a joss stick shop, barber, fortune teller and medical clinic, and larger businesses such as teahouses, restaurants, taverns, butchers, and hawkers, as well as different means of transportation like sedan chairs, wagons, donkeys, horses and camels.

However, program executive and lego certified professional Andy Hung was far from being satisfied. With over 10 years of experience being the coordinator and creator of lego exhibitions, the veteran admitted there were still details unrestored due to the limitation of lego in displaying human figures.

For Hung, it was by no means an easy job, with five months spent on sorting out a blueprint. Hung has polished lego solutions, consulted historians and architects, in addition to inspirations from archives.

"Every project is new to me, because every time I face a different scene, a different architecture, and a different culture. And recreating those through lego is a challenge," Hung said.

This photo taken on Sept. 23, 2024 shows the world's largest three-dimensional LEGO diorama of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" in New Town Plaza in Sha Tin, Hong Kong, south China. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

In his studio in Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, among items on display were fun lego recreations stemming from traditional Chinese culture, including the Forbidden City, Peking Opera facial masks, Suzhou double-sided embroidered fans, the Terracotta Warriors and the Yellow Crane Tower.

"Young people in Hong Kong are very interested in recreating traditional Chinese cultural works with lego. This time, we invited many young people and students from Hong Kong for the item, and they were very passionate," Hung said.

"I am simply demonstrating traditional culture with my works, and letting ingenious toys tell the story," Hung said.