China Daily Global Edition (USA)
History lessons
Students focus on national level relics in calendars
Every new year, various kinds of calendars with creative designs are on offer. The Sifei Calendar is one of a kind: Each page has pictures and details of one or more significant historical relics.
However, it does not come from any established publisher or academic research institute. The Sifei Calendar for 2018 was released recently — its second year — thanks to a group of history buffs who are referred to as the Sifei Group.
The name of the group comes from ru hui si fei, a line from the Classic of Poetry, the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry dating from the 11th to 7th centuries BC.
The line describes the eaves of a magnificent palace that look like flying birds.
Speaking about the calendar, Zhang Liwei, 38, the initiator of Sifei Group, says he finds it meaningful to use it to promote the beauty of Chinese architecture to the wider public.
“It’s also a good way to introduce new ideas to tourists,” he explains.
“They (tourists) often want to look at historical relics but know very little, or don’t know where to start.”
With regard to the group, he says there are about 50 core members nationwide.
They first got to know each other through blogs around 2007.
Now, they operate several discussion groups on WeChat, involving more than 1,000 people, and a public account.
“Sifei is based on friendship, using the internet,” says Zhang.
“But we usually don’t travel together,” he adds alluding to the fact that a large part of the country’s ancient architecture is scattered in the countryside or in the wilderness.
Other similar organizations in China often take paid tours on site visits, but he has chosen not to make Sifei just another “travel agency”.
“Sifei is a place for us to play together,” says Zhang. “It’s not about developing a business.”
The members, however, do get together a couple times a year, and share their findings and experiences.
And though they keep in touch online most of the time, Zhang says they are close because of a common passion.
“It’s important to gain new knowledge on the road,” he says. “It’s equally important to learn through communicating with different people after returning from a trip.”
On the road
Zhang, who was raised in Xingcheng, a small town in Northeast China’s Liaoning province, has so far visited more than 1,500 national-level key relic sites, besides lesserknown ones.
Xingcheng was an important fortress during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). And, in 1626, Yuan Chonghuan, a Ming general, successfully defended the fortress while fighting the Manchu army in a fierce battle.
Xingcheng has a well-preserved layout of an ancient city. And Zhang recalls that there was an old temple in his elementary school.
“When I was in class, I often wondered if there was some secret place housing hoards of treasures in that temple,” he says.
Zhang’s professional background bears no relevance to his passion today.
Explaining how he took up his new calling, the architecture and calendar fan — who attended medical school, and now works at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Beijing — says it all started with a visit to Shanxi province in 2007.
That trip, not only revived his childhood memories but also encouraged him to study ancient Chinese architecture.
Shanxi is home to many architectural wonders that predate the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). He made full use of that trip, and subsequent ones — where he spent almost one month every year in Shanxi — since then, to pursue his passion.
“Typically, I don’t make very detailed travel plan before setting off,” he says.
“If you look up too many travel tips before you arrive at the site, you’ve already been given too many preconceptions by others. And that could influence your own feelings.”
During his most recent visit to Shanxi in February, Zhang accidentally walked into a village. There, he discovered what he thought was the layout of a temple and its surrounding architecture, from the positions of the old trees.
“I checked this out later, and it’s a great joy to find what I assumed matched the real history,” he says.
He does not look for big things. For him, even a stone footstep with unique design can make his journey worthwhile.
Sharing his experiences, he says: “Once, I climbed a hill, and found a monk standing in front of an old temple, just like he was expecting me.”
It turned out that the monk was about to walk away and lock the front gate of the temple when he spotted Zhang in the distance and realized that he had come to see the temple.
“Maybe, I will return there in summer,” says Zhang, referring to that encounter.
“Sometimes, a lucky meeting with strangers can mark the start of a connection.”
Nevertheless, Zhang is often reluctant to reveal the specific locations of relics when sharing pictures.
“I’m afraid the locals will be disturbed,” he explains. “And, potential theft of these relics is an even bigger threat.”
Interests, duties
Wang Lei, 29, an art history teacher at Yangzhou University in East China’s Jiangsu province, agrees that “chance encounters are the best way to meet”.
This member of the Sifei Group half-jokingly attributes his love for ancient architecture to the lack of such relics in his hometown, a small coastal town in Jiangsu.
“The relics appearing in books look mysterious and mesmerizing for me,” he says. “So, visiting such sites gives me a lot of information.”
Wang says it is refreshing and touching to trace ancient people’s steps and look for details in the ruins.
“Many locals stare at me — a backpacker who carries a camera — and give me strange looks,” he says.
So, sometimes, Wang says that he is a photographer or an archaeologist to make himself better understood.
Speaking about how he plans his travels, he says: “When you get an idea, it’s better to set off soon.
“Urbanization is not wrong, but it also causes irreversible change to historical relics.
“Our generation is perhaps the last witness of many traditional lifestyles and old architecture. So, we have a duty to use our lenses and words to record the change, and share it.”
For Yang Xu, a 33-year-old Beijinger who studies ancient architecture as a postdoctoral fellow at the National University of Singapore, visiting historical sites changed his life.
Though he has a grandfather who often took him to a museum and the Yuan Dadu City Wall Ruins Park near his home, his childhood interest was later overshadowed by a desire to look for a good job.
Yang, who was majoring in electronics, rediscovered his interest in history in college after he visited some sites with some architecture students.
He then joined the Sifei Group, attended lectures on ancient architecture and finally chose to switch his major to ancient architecture.
“It has been many years since I began to visit the relics,” says Yang. “But my original passion remains strong.
“Looking at emperors’ mausoleums surrounded by empresses’ tombs, it feels like views of different epochs.”
After Yang completed his studies and started working, he found that he had to narrow his focus.
“Despite my wide interests, I can hardly spare much time to visit sites less relevant to my research field,” he says. “And, as professionals, we need a team to investigate a site rather than relying on individuals.”
However, even as a tourist, he can still contribute to the protection of historical relics.
He once found out that a pair of iron lions from the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) in a park in Hebei province was stolen, and reported the matter to police.
As for the problems of preservation, Yang says: “Tourism development has put heavy pressure on historical relics.”
For example, unfortunately, he says, many tour guides encourage tourists to touch relics for “good fortune”.
“I stop them (the guides) if I see them doing this,” he says.
More expectations
The online community has become an important pillar of support for the preservation of historical relics in recent years.
In 2014, an ancient pagoda in Shanxi’s countryside was on the verge of collapsing, but it had no protection as it was not on any protected list.
A netizen then put its pictures online and the local government soon restored the pagoda.
In 2016, a section of the Great Wall in Liaoning province was restored with its top being paved in cement.
Its ugly look irritated the public after pictures went viral online, and finally the rough restoration was fixed.
The authorities were also later urged to set national criteria for restoring the Great Wall.
Speaking about how the online community can help with preservation of historical relics, Song Xinchao, the deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, says: “Public participation has helped us to do things better. And the online platforms make such interactions (between the public and authorities) more efficient.”
Zhang also says that more offline publishing will follow the Sifei Calendar.
And he adds that Sifei will publish a book with details of all 4,296 national-level key relic sites later this year.
“Sharing knowledge is a priority for a group like ours,” he says.
They will soon start preparing for the 2019 Sifei Calendar.