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It's not an exaggeration at all.

The entire Chinese Internet is discussing "Black Myth: Wukong".

"Game Science" has become a world-renowned game company; China's single-player game industry will usher in a new spring; the Monkey King has become popular overseas again, but this time under the name "Wukong"; even Steam has made a lot of money because of the explosive popularity of this game...

There are many winners, but I have to mention it——Shanxi。

Amid the overwhelming good news, one piece of news was quickly drowned out: After the launch of "Black Myth: Wukong", the stock price of "Shanxi Expressway" continued to rise.

reason?

"Black Myth: Wukong" is good for Shanxi tourism.

As China's first 3A masterpiece, "Black Myth: Wukong" has many advantages, the most praised of which is the exquisite graphics. Whether it is the fantasy and ancient Buddhist temples, or the dreamy and sacred stone carvings and murals, they all truly restore the world of Journey to the West that originally existed only in imagination.

Every step players take and every scene they see has a long history spanning thousands of years.

Most of these were shot in Shanxi.

"Black Myth: Wukong" has a total of 36 filming locations across the country, and Shanxi alone accounts for 27 of them!

For example, the two Buddha statues that appear in the game are actually the Kang Golden Dragon and Shi Fire Pig among the twenty-eight constellations of the Jincheng Jade Emperor Temple.

The upper picture shows Kang Jin Long, and the lower picture shows Shi Huo Zhu

For example, this shocking scene in the trailer was shot at Xiaoxitian in Xi County, Linfen.

The picture above is the game screen, and the picture below is the actual shot

Why Shanxi? And on what basis?

Because when it comes to ancient Chinese architecture, Shanxi is number one and no one dares to say it’s second.

Five thousand years seems very far away, but Shanxi seems very close.

A fact that is happening now is that overseas travel is cooling down, while domestic travel is booming.

The reason is that people increasingly feel that China's tourism resources are greatly underestimated. Whether it is natural scenery or historical heritage, we lack nothing.

Unfortunately, China is indeed too big. It was more popular than Liuzhou, more popular than Zibo, and more prosperous than Harbin... but there are still many places that have been covered in dust for a long time.

When they long for the huge traffic to come to them, Shanxi is favored again and again.

There was Dong Yuhui before, and then there was Black Myth: Wukong. Of course, there is one person who cannot be avoided, and that is the famous Chinese architectLiang Sicheng。

In the 1930s, people's livelihood was in decline and there was little research on ancient architecture in China.

At this time there isJapanese scholars took advantage of the situation and asserted that China no longer had any wooden buildings before the Tang Dynasty.If you want to see Tang Dynasty wooden structures, you can only go to Nara, Japan.

Liang Sicheng didn't believe it.

In 1932, he and Lin Huiyin decided to set out to look for historical sites. After consulting a lot of information and traveling all over the country, they finally arrived at the Wutai Mountain in Datong on the evening of June 26, 1937.Foguang Temple。

There, they saw a hall with a peculiar appearance. This hall was in line with the architectural style of the Tang Dynasty. First of all, outside the hall were huge brackets and extra-long eaves that were only found in Tang Dynasty architecture, and the roof structure inside the hall had only appeared in Tang Dynasty paintings. In addition, the statues, paintings and ink marks everywhere were full of the legacy of the late Tang Dynasty.

Foguang Temple

But this cannot conclude that this is a Tang Dynasty building.

It was not until two days later that Lin Huiyin found some faint handwriting on a roof beam. After wiping it, she finally could see the words clearly. They read "Ning Gongyu, the female disciple of the master of the Buddhist temple."

This sentence is also engraved on the pagoda outside the main hall, and the date engraved on the pagoda is the eleventh year of Tang Dazhong.

In other words, this hall was built by a female disciple named Ning Gongyu in the eleventh year of Tang Dazhong.

At this point, the first existing Tang Dynasty wooden structure in China finally appeared, and Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin also severely slapped the arrogant faces of Japanese scholars.

Later, they discovered an even older Tang Dynasty building in Mount Wutai, dating back more than 1,200 years.Nanchan Temple, plus Pingshun County, ShanxiTiantai Templeand Ruicheng County, ShanxiGuangrenwang Temple, there are four Tang Dynasty buildings still existing in China today, all of which are located in Shanxi.

Figure 1 Nanchan Temple; Figure 2 Tiantai Temple; Figure 3 Guangrenwang Temple

Having all the Tang Dynasty buildings is enough to make Shanxi famous, but there are more national treasures in Shanxi that deserve admiration.

In recent years, the debate over whether to maintain or not has beenYingxian Wooden PagodaAlso in Shanxi.

This pagoda was built in the second year of Qingning in Liao Dynasty (1056 AD).The world's tallest and oldest existing wooden tower。

Yingxian Wooden Pagoda

Not only is the tower body constructed with pure wooden components, but what is even more distinctive is that there are 480 different types of brackets alone, of 54 different kinds. In addition, hidden layers are creatively set up inside the tower. It looks like there are 5 floors but in fact there are 9 floors, which can be called a masterpiece of divine craftsmanship.

In addition, the mural was used as a modeling reference for the movie "Fengshen"Yongle Palace, also in Shanxi.

This Taoist temple was built in the second year of the reign of Emperor Dingzong of the Yuan Dynasty (1247 AD). It was originally built to commemorate Lu Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals. Therefore, a large number of Taoist murals were painted inside.

This large mural, covering a total area of ​​more than 1,000 square meters, is not only a treasure of Chinese art, but also extremely rare in the history of world painting.

Yongle Palace murals

In addition, there are Pingshun Dayun Temple, Pingyao Zhenguo Temple, Pingshun Longmen Temple from the Five Dynasties; Huayan Temple's Bhagavad Gaya Hall from the Liao Dynasty; Datong Shanhua Temple's Main Hall from the Jin Dynasty, etc. These ancient buildings, known as "national treasures", all come from Shanxi.

As of the beginning of 2022, there are a total of 28,027 ancient architectural cultural relics in Shanxi, of which wooden structures before the Song, Liao and Jin Dynasties account for about 75% of the country, and wooden structures from the Yuan Dynasty account for about 82.9% of the country. As for Ming and Qing Dynasty buildings, they are countless.

It can be said that whether it is temples and halls, city houses and government offices, or even towers, bridges and tombs, the quantity and quality of ancient buildings in Shanxi ranks first in the country.

Why is it that Shanxi, although also a province of China, has preserved so many ancient buildings?

First of all, of course, it has a long and splendid history.

China was called Jiuzhou in ancient times. The core area of ​​Jizhou, the first of the nine provinces, was not actually the current Hebei Province, but the southern part of Shanxi, which is now Shanxi.Linfen CityandYuncheng City。

The picture above shows the Feihong Tower in Linfen, and the picture below shows the Guanque Tower in Yuncheng

In fact, our country dares to claim that it has a 5,000-year history of civilization because the Taosi site (3,900 to 4,300 years ago), which was identified as the capital of Emperor Yao, was excavated in Xiangfen County, Linfen.

In addition, Shun's capital Puyang and Yu's capital Anyi are respectively located in Yongji and Xia County of Yuncheng, Shanxi.

As for the Shang, Zhou, Qin and Han dynasties that followed, Shanxi was the place where emperors and princes established their capitals.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, Shanxi was the State of Jin, and the story of "The Orphan of Zhao" was staged here. In the last years of the dynasty, Han, Zhao and Wei conquered the State of Jin, which is known in history as "The Three Families Divide Jin."

In the years that followed, Shanxi became a border battlefield where countless ethnic groups and civilizations competed and communicated with each other.

The most direct proof is the ancient buildings standing here.

For example, until now, we cannot imagine how the ancients built the Hanging Temple of Hengshan.

But what we want to talk about today is not its architectural miracle;The only existing temple in China that worships Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism。

Hanging Temple

Perhaps it was precisely because of the continuous wars over thousands of years that the ancestors of Datong, who had been unable to find peace all day long, wanted to kneel down and beg for protection with all the faith in the world.

If the Hanging Temple of Hengshan is the historical proof of the frequent wars in Datong, then the Yungang Grottoes are the unexpected destination of Datong's ethnic integration.

Judging from the style of the statues, the Yungang Grottoes, with a cliff face that is more than 1,000 meters long, can actually be divided into three periods: early, middle and late.

The early ones are majestic, thick and simple, the middle ones are meticulously crafted and magnificent, and the late ones are thin, elegant, handsome and beautiful.

The fundamental reason for this style change is also ethnic integration. Its builders were not actually Han people, but the Northern Wei regime established by the Xianbei people.

Although they were Xianbei people, because they always had faith in Buddhism and a yearning for Han culture, they constantly updated their aesthetics during the construction process, thus allowing the artistic styles of various ethnic groups to be integrated here as never before.

Inside the Yungang Grottoes

It is this thousands of years of long and glorious history that has created the numerous and exquisite palaces and houses all over Shanxi. However, building them is only the beginning; preserving them is the real skill.

The reason why traditional Chinese architecture is harder to preserve than Western architecture is that most of it is made of wood.

No matter how grand a building is when it is first built, once it suffers from any disaster that damages the wood, such as insects, fire, war, etc., the beams and rafters of the building will be destroyed.

Even the daily changes of seasons will leave deep and shallow scars on ancient buildings.

The bricks of the earthen walls will peel off due to rain and snow, the wooden pillars and beams will crack due to weathering, and even if there is only one plant growing on the roof, its roots can destroy the building by the force of cannibalism.

However, because Shanxi is located in the mid-latitude region, has a temperate continental climate, and is located on the Loess Plateau, it has a dry climate with little rain, snow, and disasters, which is more conducive to the preservation of ancient buildings.

In modern times, when ancient buildings were damaged at the fastest rate, foreign invasions and civil wars rarely affected Shanxi. In addition, Shanxi's modernization development was slower than other regions, so there was less impact on these ancient buildings.

Therefore, the reason why Shanxi is able to preserve these ancient buildings is that the right time, right place and right people are all indispensable.

Image source: Station B @ Shanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism

However,AlthoughShanxi has the most ancient buildings left, but they are now collapsing at an unstoppable speed.。

Not to mention the distant past, just during the National Day holiday in 2021, a rainstorm that lasted nearly 90 hours caused damage to more than 1,763 ancient buildings in Shanxi.

The roofs of many buildings in the Jin Temple, a nationally protected area, are leaking. Some caves in the Tianlongshan Grottoes, a nationally protected area, are leaking. The roof of the Ten Thousand Buddha Hall in the Thousand Buddha Caves, a nationally protected area, has collapsed. The East Forbidden Gate of the Forbidden Wall in the Yuncheng Salt Lake, a nationally protected area, has collapsed.

Among them, the Kuixing Tower in Yanjiazhuang, Gujiao Town, Xinjiang County, which was already in danger as early as 2015, completely collapsed due to this rainstorm.

In addition to natural disasters, there are also man-made disasters.

Although people are becoming more and more aware of the need to protect ancient buildings, the task of protection is still very heavy due to the large number, high value and wide distribution of ancient buildings in Shanxi.

Some ancient buildings located in remote areas have few or no management personnel, so thefts are rampant despite repeated prohibitions.

Some thieves were even bold enough to tie up the staff and then carry away the items in a swagger, or even cut into the ancient buildings.

Fortunately, there are still some knowledgeable people who are working hard to appeal.

For example, Mayor Geng Yanbo developed Datong with foresight and revitalized it as a cultural city; Dong Yuhui and Yu Minhong took the initiative to go to Shanxi and promote it in live broadcasts; the director of the Shanxi Tourism Bureau promoted local ancient buildings through various channels...

With the release of "Black Myth: Wukong", the Shanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism once again took on the huge traffic and kept promoting Shanxi's profound and rich tourism resources.

The players were fascinated and listed Shanxi as their next travel destination. Many of them even couldn't contain their excitement and came to check in that day.

Staff at the Xiaoxitian Scenic Area in Xi County said,Tickets sold on August 20th increased by 300% compared to August 20th last year, and plans are in place to add Black Myth: Wukong game content to the commentary.。

We have reason to believe that as Shanxi's ancient buildings are seen and liked by more people, they will become safer.

There is a famous saying in foreign countries about architecture:Architecture is solidified music。

But if this sentence is used to describe Chinese architecture, it is too simple.

Because what is solidified in ancient Chinese architecture is not only music, but also technology, aesthetics and culture.

This technology has been passed down for thousands of years and has directly influenced the architectural landscape of East Asia as a whole, so there is no need to elaborate on it.

From a cultural perspective, the development process of traditional architecture is also the development process of our traditional culture, so the two are always integrating with each other.

For example, in ancient times we called the emperor "Your Majesty", the princes and nobles "Your Highness", and the officials "Your Excellency". These titles that use buildings to refer to identities are a reflection of culture.

Speaking of aesthetics, traditional architecture, as a concentrated display of our national culture, survives for a moment, and even every brick, tile, beam, pillar, wall and painting has something worth telling about.

Take the caisson, which is the center of the building, for example. It is "made of intertwined wood like a well, and painted with algae patterns." It is not only complex in structure but also colorful. It is the core embodiment of my country's traditional architectural technology and aesthetics.

But we rarely see this brilliant display in movies and TV dramas.

Lin Huiyin mentioned this experience when she recalled her field investigation.

She and Liang Sicheng found a stone tablet from the Northern Qi Dynasty in an ancient village. The villagers who were watching asked, "It must be very old, right?"

The two looked at the stone tablet and answered happily: "Much longer, almost 1,400 years."

"Wow, one thousand four hundred years!" Everyone present became proud.

Look,We are always proud of living in a country with a history of 5,000 years, and we are also proud of the ancient buildings in front of us.。

These ancient buildings were built by our ancestors with their hope for a peaceful and prosperous life, their belief in the protection of gods, and their exquisite technology. They have survived the wars of dynasty changes, crossed the long river of history, and experienced the stops of thousands of passers-by before they can be seen by us.

We must never dismantle them one by one or discard them one by one just because of the development of the times. This would be tantamount to abandoning the cultural heritage that we are proud of.

Datong Nine Dragon Screen

I saw someone complaining online before that ancient buildings are being rebuilt everywhere, and what is the point?

Someone answered: "What is ancient and what is modern? Take the Yellow Crane Tower for example. It has gone through 2,000 years and has been rebuilt more than 20 times. The repeated collapse and reconstruction just witnessed the rise and fall of the Chinese nation's thousand-year history. Each reconstruction represented the highest level at the time. Which of these 20 reconstructions can be considered ancient and which can be considered modern? Some people may not think that "Three Thousand Miles from Chang'an" is good, but the last sentence is not wrong, 'As long as the poem about the Yellow Crane Tower is still there, the Yellow Crane Tower will be there'."

Since we are already using reconstruction to redeem the past mistakes of destroying ancient buildings, we should not ignore the mistakes and allow the remaining ancient buildings to continue to collapse.

To preserve Shanxi's ancient buildings is to preserve our past, our words and our poetry.

After Black Myth: Wukong was released, a saying became popular: "You once rode a fierce horse in Damascus, worked as a pirate in the European Ocean, experienced war in the American West, and worked as a cool and silent assassin in Egypt. These places are great, but they are ultimately other people's countries and cultures."

Now, we can finally return to our hometown, be our childhood superheroes for a while, and visit the ancient Buddhist temples in Shanxi.

Everywhere you look, it’s a familiar sight.

They are both the past and the present;

They are both history and at our feet.