Qing Ming Animation

By Christina (age 14, GSIS)

A few weeks ago, our family got tickets to go see The River of Wisdom: an exhibition of the animated version of The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, a famous Chinese painting from the 12^th century.

This version was originally exhibited at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo in the China Pavilion. The size of it is huge, stretching more than 120 meters long, 30 times the original size of the painting. This animation is projected on a screen with 12 different projectors, presenting a day to night cycle every 4 minutes.

The animated version consisted of animated people walking along the street, camels being lead across bridges, and even sound effects, of the business of the market, like men shouting out what they're selling. The water of the river rippled, and the lanterns flickered in the night.

It definitely was interesting to see. I know that I'd never have another chance to see it, so I happily went with my sister and mom. The exhibition room was filled with people, all taking pictures of the giant scroll. I could see camera flashes going off every other quarter of a second. There was so many people! It was exciting to be part of the sea of viewers.

The only thing I had against it though was the fact that the cycle of the day was so short. I don't see how people can stay in the exhibition room for so long watching the same thing over and over again. I think the days could have been slightly longer: maybe 6 or 8 minutes. I think that the animated people were thought provoking to watch. They had camels pulling people, peasants carrying buckets of water, and donkeys attached to carriages.

All this made me wonder if the people those days actually lived like that, having to work so much. In the animated painting, you could actually see people walking from the far right, where the edge of the town started, to the left, where the main streets and a temple stood. If I had grown up in that town, I probably would have been so tired out after every day, walking along the streets with buckets of water on my back, or even staying in the market yelling out today's prices for the food that had arrived.

Seeing The Riverside Scene at Qingming was probably a once in a lifetime experience, and I'm glad I had the chance to go and see it. It's not the type of thing you see again and again, just because it's so good.