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A personal quest to preserve ancient history
By Pan Zheng |
November 25, 2010, Thursday
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A wealthy businessman has taken it upon himself to preserve ancient buildings at great personal expense. Now, he's even toying with the idea of letting people live in them, Pan Zheng writes.
A businessman has gone to great lengths to preserve ancient buildings. Wang Baojin says he has spend most of his life savings to preserve such buildings and now he has opened the museum of ancient buildings in Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties in Xixi Wetland Park to display them to the public,
The museum has about 50 original ancient buildings, including homes, halls, temples and folk stages.
Wang says he purchases the buildings when he travels around the provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi.
Wang's interest in ancient buildings started in 1996 when he saw a group of wood carvings with beautiful patterns. Later, he learned these carvings were once part of ancient houses.
He bought them at a good price and brought them to Hangzhou.
Then, an idea occurred to him. Why not just collect complete ancient buildings and establish a museum for them?
"It's an important part of the country's traditional culture," Wang says. "These things are the heritage of our ancestors and they represent their lifestyle."
Once he made up his mind, he acted very quickly. In the following 10 years, he traveled around the region, spending most of his savings on 100 ancient buildings from the Ming and Qing dynasties. All of these buildings were disassembled and stored in a rented warehouse in Hangzhou.
However, moving these fragile buildings - ranging from old homes with unique courtyards in Anhui to elaborate temples - is complicated and far beyond Wang's ability. Therefore, he hired more than 40 craftsmen and architects to do the work.
Every time Wang buys a building, these craftsmen and architects will draft a plan first. Every single tile and brick is then numbered before disassembly. When these materials are brought back to Hangzhou, these professionals reconstruct the building.
The cost is definitely high, but Wang doesn't care.
"I just want these buildings to stand longer," Wang says. "Our wonderful cultural heritage shall be preserved."
Wang says the museum is not totally completed yet, but that the second phase will likely be completed late next year.
"I'm thinking of letting visitors live in these ancient buildings rather than just looking and photographing them," Wang says. "It's the best way to experience ancient Chinese life."
In the future, the museum will host exhibitions of ancient paintings, calligraphy, as well as wooden and stone carvings.
Wang says the museum will become a splendid gathering of ancient Chinese culture.
A businessman has gone to great lengths to preserve ancient buildings. Wang Baojin says he has spend most of his life savings to preserve such buildings and now he has opened the museum of ancient buildings in Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties in Xixi Wetland Park to display them to the public,
The museum has about 50 original ancient buildings, including homes, halls, temples and folk stages.
Wang says he purchases the buildings when he travels around the provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi.
Wang's interest in ancient buildings started in 1996 when he saw a group of wood carvings with beautiful patterns. Later, he learned these carvings were once part of ancient houses.
He bought them at a good price and brought them to Hangzhou.
Then, an idea occurred to him. Why not just collect complete ancient buildings and establish a museum for them?
"It's an important part of the country's traditional culture," Wang says. "These things are the heritage of our ancestors and they represent their lifestyle."
Once he made up his mind, he acted very quickly. In the following 10 years, he traveled around the region, spending most of his savings on 100 ancient buildings from the Ming and Qing dynasties. All of these buildings were disassembled and stored in a rented warehouse in Hangzhou.
However, moving these fragile buildings - ranging from old homes with unique courtyards in Anhui to elaborate temples - is complicated and far beyond Wang's ability. Therefore, he hired more than 40 craftsmen and architects to do the work.
Every time Wang buys a building, these craftsmen and architects will draft a plan first. Every single tile and brick is then numbered before disassembly. When these materials are brought back to Hangzhou, these professionals reconstruct the building.
The cost is definitely high, but Wang doesn't care.
"I just want these buildings to stand longer," Wang says. "Our wonderful cultural heritage shall be preserved."
Wang says the museum is not totally completed yet, but that the second phase will likely be completed late next year.
"I'm thinking of letting visitors live in these ancient buildings rather than just looking and photographing them," Wang says. "It's the best way to experience ancient Chinese life."
In the future, the museum will host exhibitions of ancient paintings, calligraphy, as well as wooden and stone carvings.
Wang says the museum will become a splendid gathering of ancient Chinese culture.
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