Record: World's Longest Wood Carving!

Record: World's Longest Wood Carving!

It took Chinese artist Zheng Chunhui 4 years to enter the Guinness Book of Records for the world's longest wooden carving. Chunhui is a famous wood carver, and his creation, his magnum opus, is over 40 feet (12 meters) long and made from one single tree trunk.  In addition to being so long, it also stands at 3 meters tall (10 feet) and is 2.4 meters (8 feet) wide. This amazingly intricate work features three dimensional boats, buildings bridges and 550 individually carved human figures, who are carrying cargo, shopping in markets, talking to each other and going about their daily business.

The scene depicted is actually a copy of a very famous Chinese painting 'Along the River During the Quinming Festival', which was painted over 1,000 years ago during the Song Dynasty by artist Zhang Zeduan. Many consider it the 'Chinese Mona Lisa'. This painting is one of the best indications of what ancient Chinese culture was life.

The work was awarded the world record on Thursday last week as part of Guinness World Records Day. Chunhui's carving was unveiled at the Palace Museum in Beijing, the same location as the scroll on which it is based.