A whittle goes a long way! Chinese wood art breaks record for longest carving out of single piece of timber




A Chinese artist has won a place in the Guinness Book of Records after creating the world's longest wooden carving.

Zheng Chunhui, a famous wood carver, spent four years creating the artwork which is over 40ft long and made from a single tree trunk.

The scene is actually a copy of the famous Chinese painting 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival' which was created over 1,000 years ago.

Chinese artist Zheng Chunhui took four years to complete this wood carving which is a copy of a famous painting. It has won the Guinness World Record for the longest wooden carving and measures over 40ft

The work is actually a copy of the famous Chinese painting 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival' which was produced by Zhang Zeduan during the Song dynasty

Though it has been replicated many times, Chunhui's version, which is made from a single piece of tree trunk, is surely the most spectacular.

The intricate work features boats, bridges, building and even 550 individually carved people.

The piece measures 12.286 meters long, is 3.075 meters tall at it highest point, and is also 2.401 meters wide.



The original painting, referred to as the 'Chinese Mona Lisa' because of its fame, was completed during the Song Dynasty by artist Zhang Zeduan.

The painting, which was originally done on a scroll and designed to be steadily unwound by the viewer, is historically significant because it shows the day-to-day lives of rich and poor people in ancient Chin

The artwork features buildings, boats, bridges and 550 individually carved people who are shown herding animals, carrying cargo shopping in markets and going about their daily business in a snapshot of ancient Chinese life

It is painted on a hand scroll and was designed to be looked at by slowly unrolling the paper from right to left, an arm's length at a time, like an ancient comic strip.

It is considered of huge historical importance as it documents the day-to-day lives of Chinese people, both rich and poor, 900 years ago.



Several later versions were created but with scenes added from the Ming and Qing times, in keeping with the Chinese tradition of contemporary artists reworking ancient masterpieces.

While Chunhui's version will be easy to distinguish for obvious reasons, it doesn't add any scenes from modern-day China.

The work was awarded the world record on Thursday last week as part of Guinness World Records Day, set up to commemorate the day the book of records became the best-selling copyright book.

The original has been replicated many times as China has a cultural tradition whereby contemporary artists replicate old masterpieces while adding images from their own age. Though Chunhui hasn't added anything from modern-day China, his version should be fairly recognisable

Other records broken on the same day included the most hula hoops spun simultaneously, which was broken in the UK, by the ‘Marawa's Majorettes’ dance group, who spun 264 hula hoops between them.



The award for the largest gathering of people dressed as penguins also went to the UK after 325 people dressed up.



The most swords swallowed underwater went to Australia, while the USA took home the recognition of largest collection of pizza boxes, as Scott Wiener had 595 boxes.



Other categories included the longest basketball shot, which was won by Harlem Globetrotters player Corey Law with a throw of 109 feet 9 inches, along with fastest 100m running on all fours, a most people dressed as ninjas.



The record for most darts caught by one hand in one minute and most upright bottles walked across were, oddly, broken at the same time and by the same person.

Chunhui's carving was unveiled at the Palace Museum in Beijing, the same location as the scroll on which it is based.



