China Daily Weekly - 09.08.2019

O

nthewide,misty

Xin’anRiver sur-

rounded by lush

greenmountains,

FangShuyunbal-

ancesinthewateronabamboo pole.

Wrapped inaraincape andwearing

astrawhat,heresemblesamysteri-

ousfigurefromamartialarts novel.

Fang, 54, isanordinaryfarmerin

Jiande, Zhejiangprovince,who does

various temporary jobstomakea

living.

Butinhissparetimehelikesto

practicethe a rtofbalancingonbam-

boo inwater, a hobbyhe hasenjoyed

foralmost 40 years.

“WhenIwaslittleIalways loved

readingChinese wuxia comic

books,”Fangsaid,referringtothe

popularmartialartspublications.

“WhenIwasateenagerIsawanold

ladypracticingtheartofstanding

onbamboo inwater,andIwasfas-

cinated.”

Afterthe encounter,Fangspent

morethanthreey tryears ingtograsp

thetechniqueofkeepingbalanced

whilestandingonabamboo pole

inthewater.Heonly managedto

masterthe acrobaticskillafterfall-

ingcountless timesandgettingcut

frequentlybythebamboo.

But Fangrecently made asplash

onthe internetwithhisamazing

skills.

The bamboounderhisfeetis

about 8 meters long,withadiam-

eterof 15 centimeters.ForFang,

167 centime ttersallandweighing

55 kilograms,the bamboo generates

justenough buoyancytokeep him

abovewater.

“Whenthewindblows,Iusually

just standonthe bamboo, anduse

asmallbamboosticktopushthe

po letohelpmeflowintotheriver,”

hesaid.

The difficultartisoftendepicted

in wuxia stories.InChina,themost

famouspersonwiththeskillissaid

tobeBodhidharma, anIndianBud-

dhist monkbelievedtohavelived

duringtheSouthernandNorthern

Dynasties(4 20 -581).

LegendhasitthatBodhidharma

visitedEmperorWuofLiang, a

patronofBuddhism.Theemperor

paidlittle heedtoBodhidharma’s

wordsanddisagreedw ithhisinter-

pretationofBuddhism.SoBodhid-

harmaleft.But the emperorsoon

realized hewaswrong, andsent

peopletofindhim.

Noticinghewasbeing chased,

Bodhidharma picked areed fromthe

bankandthrewitintotheriver.The

reedwastransformed intoaboat

anditcarriedBodhidharmaaway,

leavingthe emperorbehindwitha

feelingofregret.

In reality,however,Fangsaid he

doesnotknowmuch about martial

arts,andthathisability tobalance

onbamboo inthewatermainly

dependsonthe directionandpower

ofthewind, andthe current.The

mostimportant thing,Fangsaid, is

tokeep hisfeetfirmlyonthe bam-

boo.

“AslongasIkeepmyfeetfirm,

evenifthereisastrongtide,Ican

stillkeepmycoolonthe bamboo,”

hesaid.

Butitisnoteasy tostaycool.The

bamboo’s roundshapemeansitrolls

easilyinthewater,evenifthewater

isstill.On the Xin’anRiver,which

hasstrongcurrentsandismorethan

10 metersdeep,the artof balancing

onbamboo caneasily turnintoa

mishap.

“You must keepyour weighton

the frontfootandus etheotherfoot

tograspthe bamboo firmly,”Fang

said.

Butafteryearsof practice,Fang

hasmasteredthe art.Thesedays,he

cannotonly standonthe bamboo,

butalsodopush-upsandeven jump

onthe bamboo.

“Thisismyhobby,andwhenever

Ifloatacrosstheriverwiththe bam-

booIfeelexcited,”hesaid.“I will

continuetopractice and hopefully I

canfindsomeonewho isgenuinely

interestedtohelppassonthe art.”

XINHUA

Digitizationprovidesbetterviewsofrelics,immersiveexperienceinthecomplex’sarchitecture

ByWANGKAIHAO

[email protected]

Morethan1.86millioncultural

relicsarehoused inthePalaceMuse-

uminBeijing,China’simperialpal-

ace from 1420 to1 9 11, alsoknownas

theForbiddenCity.

Whileadministratorsatthemuse-

umhaveendeavoredtoputmore

artifactsfromthe collectionsof for-

meremperorsondisplay,theystill

haveto facethe challengesposed by

thelimited exhibitionspace inwhat

istheworld’s largestarchitectural

complexmadeofwood,which has

extraordinarilyhighstandardsfor

safety.

Fortunately, digitizationcreates

awayformoreculturalrelicstobe

viewed bythe public, oftenproviding

abetterexperiencethanseeingthem

inexhibitionhalls.

Last month, high-definitionpic-

turesofmorethan 50 , 000 highlight-

ed culturalrelicsfromthePalace

Museum wentonlineviathe institu-

tion’sofficialwebsite,whichwillbe

constantly updated.

“We’reinthemiddleofadigi-

talrevolution,andthetraditional

displayof artifactsinmuseumsis

becomingmore challenging,”said

WangXudong, directorofthePalace

Museum.“The digitizationprocess

atthePalaceMuseumhasbeenin

operationfor2 0 years,sothisproject

tobettershareourachievementwith

the public islikeitscoming-of-age

ceremony.”

The 5 0 , 000 digitized itemsinclude

culturalrelicsof all varietiesfrom

the palace collection,rangingfrom

paintings,sculpturesandjadeware,

totextiles,porcelainandantique

clocks,amongothers.

SunJing, asystemoperatorfrom

the digitalinformationdepartment

atthePalaceMuseum,considers the

establishmentofthe databasecru-

cialtothe preservationof cultural

relics,andiskeentolauditsmany

benefits tothe public.

“It willfacilitatescholars’

research,”Sunsaid.“And peoplewho

lovetraditionalculturewillbe able

to gainabetterinsightby‘playing’

withtheartifactsincreativeways.”

Some pieceslikesculptures,enam-

els,lacquerwareandporcelainhave

beencaptured in3D,which enables

viewers tomanipulatethe imageto

viewthemfromanyangletheywant,

andingreaterdetail.

And 325 keypaintingsinclud-

ing BunianTu ( Emperor Taizong

ReceivingTibetanEnvoy )fromthe

TangDynasty( 6 18- 907 ), oneofthe

mostimportantancientChinese

paintings,areincludedinanapp

formobiledevices,which displays

theminhigh-definition.According

toSun,eachpaintingisrendered ina

resolutionof over1billionpixels.He

saidthataround5 0 paintingswillbe

addedtotheapp every month.

“Idon’t think youwillbe able

toseethesubjects’facesasclearly

whenyouviewthe paintinginthe

exhibitionhall,nomatterhowhard

youtrytopress yourface against

t ghe lassofthe cabinet,”Sun said,

smiling.

Itisnotonly treasuresinthe pal-

acethatare beinggivenagreater

chance of exposurebybeingexhib-

ited incyberspace.

“The biggestexhibitinthe palace is

the architecture,”said ZhuK ai,a pho-

tographerworkingatthemuseum.

Hisworks recordingthesensa-

tionalgrandeurofthe ancientarchi-

tectureoftengoviralonsocialnet-

works,buthe hasarenewedsense

of pridenow—asamemberofthe

museum’s virtualreality team.

Aprogramcalled ThePanoramic

PalaceMuseum wasalsoreleased

throughthe officialwebsitelast

month, offeringusersthe immersive

experience of avi urtalvisittothe

architecturalcomplex.

AccordingtoZhu,the platform,

whichresemblesGoogleStreetView,

isbuilton numerouspicturestaken

from 884 locationsaroundthemuse-

um.Allthe accessibleareasinthe

compoundhave beenrecorded for

the platform,aswellasafewplaces

which arestillinaccessibletovisitors

onthe ground.

Moreimportantly,thereareno

overwhelmingcrowdsblockingthe

view,whichnooneactually visiting

thePalaceMuseumcanavoid.

“The palacelooksemptyonthe

platform,”Zhusaid.However,his

teamwereonlyallowedtotake

photosduringtheForbiddenCity’s

openinghours,soheconstantlyhad

torepeatthe phrase:“Excuseme,

pleasemoveaside alittlebit.I’mtak-

ingapicture.”

Forthe public,whatdigitization

bringsprobablygoesbeyondabet-

terviewof exhibits.SincethePalace

Museumsigned a cooperationagree-

ment withHuawei inMarchtocom-

prehensivelyinstalla5Gnetworkin

thenextfewyears,itopens the door

toevengreaterpossibilities.

Ye Yipei, anartificialintelligence

engineeratthemuseum,hashigh

expectations.Herteamisinthe pro-

cessof establishingadatabasefor

each oftherelics,whichusesAItech-

nologytohelpanswerbasicques-

tionsposed bytourists throughthe

useofinteractivegraphicsdelivered

through aspecialistapp.

Currently,itincludesabout 7, 000

artifacts.

“Regardingthe 1.86millionrelics,

thisnumberisstill toosmall tosup-

portacleveralgorithm,”shesaid.

“However,aslongasenough datais

collected,maybevisitors willbe able

toseethe exhibitsandsimultane-

ouslyconsultwiththeirphonetodis-

coverthestoriesbehindtherelics.”

PalaceMuseumpreparedfordigitalvisitors

Afloatinglife

Afteryearsofpractice,farmermasterstheartof

balancingonbambooinwater

Fang Shuyun, whose hobby to balance on bamboo in water is depicted inwuxiastories, recently made a splash online with his skills.

WENGXINYANG/XINHUA

30 LIFE August 9-15, 2019 CHINA DAILY GLOBALWEEKLY