Classic Chinese painting brought to life in 4D interactive rendering at Beijing’s Palace Museum

Audiences can experience 12th-century life in China, thanks to the immersive 4D rendering of imperial artist Zhang Zeduan’s Along the River During the Qingming Festival currently on display at the Palace Museum in Beijing

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Visitors watch an interactive digital display of a masterpiece, the scroll painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival by 12th-century painter Zhang Zeduan at the Palace Museum in Beijing, China, on July 05, 2018. The painting, now housed in the Palace Museum, gives a panoramic portrayal of flourishing urban life in Bianliang (today's Kaifeng, Henan province), the capital during the Northern Song period (960-1127). Visitors can experience a moment of life in Song dynasty during this interactive show. 05JUL18 SCMP/Simon Song

Published: 6:18pm, 9 Jul 2018Updated: 7:43pm, 9 Jul 2018

Along the River During the Qingming Festival, a classical Chinese painting by imperial artist Zhang Zeduan, is famed for its detailed depiction of day-to-day street life along the Bian River in Bianjing, the capital of the Northern Song dynasty. Now you can literally step inside this masterpiece and experience the hustle and bustle of the ancient city in a new 4D rendering of the 5.3-metre-long scroll at the Palace Museum in Beijing.

Jointly presented by the museum and Phoenix TV, “Life Along the Bian River at the Pure Brightness Festival – High-Tech Interactive Art Exhibition” is an elaborate upgrade of the animated version of the painting that went on show at the China Pavilion during the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai (a duplicate of which came to Hong Kong in 2010).

One section of the show recreates a scene from the painting, featuring actors playing a cashier and waiter in an ancient tavern. As they did hundreds of years ago, customers are seated at a table of four with a wine urn placed in the middle.

Above them are more characters – a Chinese flute player, fortune-teller and drunks staggering along the corridor – but these are digitally rendered. There is guqin music playing in the background and the lively performance concludes with petals showering down onto the visitors.

Another highlight is a long animated sequence made up of vignettes depicted in the original Along the River During the Qingming Festival.

Featuring a total of 814 characters, 73 domesticated animals, more than 50 vehicles and boats, and some magnificent architecture including bridges and city walls on a 36 metre by 4.8 metre digital panel, visitors embark on a pictorial journey that slowly moves them from one scene to another, through bobbing boats, swaying willow trees, hard-working beasts of burden and touting vendors.

Visitors take a virtual boat ride down the river as part of an interactive digital display of the scroll painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival by 12th-century painter Zhang Zeduan. Photo: Simon Song

Wang Xiaodong, president of Phoenix Digital Technology, says the exhibition, which comprises three zones, took two years and 40 million yuan (US$6,020,000) to put together.

“The demands of visitors are getting more sophisticated in today’s digital age,” he says. “The animated characters were all hand-drawn by a team of painters.”