Huashan mural

The cliff murals of the counties in the Zuojiang River Basin, painted on the cliffs by the river, are still clear and bright after thousands of years of wind and rain. However, the age of the murals has not yet been solved.

The whole precipice of Huashan is painted with various earth red figures and objects. There are two positions in the portrait: front and side. On the front, the figure holds his hands high and his feet apart. On the side of the figure, his hands are stretched out and his legs squat slightly into a jumping style, which is not only like practicing martial arts, but also like dancing and singing wildly. Some of them are like horses and dogs, others are like rattan, gongs and drums, and the sun. The whole picture, with its primitive and rough strokes, is still clearly visible despite the wind and rain of generations.

The largest painting is located on the Bank of Mingjiang River in Tuolong Township, Ningming County. The painting is painted on the steep cliff near the river, with a height of about 40 meters and a width of about 220 meters. There are various images in the painting, including more than 1900 figures, animals and utensils.

Such large-scale and rich murals are rare not only in China, but also in the world. No wonder people say that Huashan cliff murals, the bright pearl of ancient Zhuang art, are comparable to Dunhuang murals.

In the past, we could get close contact with each other on the mountain, but now we can only take a boat tour to protect the natural heritage.

Huashan pictographs

synonym

Huashan murals generally refer to Huashan rock paintings

Huashan rock painting is located in Zuojiang River and its tributary Mingjiang River Basin, Chongzuo City, Guangxi Province

(the scope includes Ningming County, Longzhou County, Jiangzhou District and Fusui County of Chongzuo city.

）Together with its dependent mountains, rivers and platforms, it forms a magnificent Zuojiang Huashan rock painting cultural landscape, including about 105 km of Zuojiang and Mingjiang River sections. The heritage area is 6621 hectares, of which Ningming County is the first heritage area, Longzhou county is the second heritage area, and Jiangzhou District and Fusui county are the third heritage area.

Rock painting can be traced back to the Warring States period to the Eastern Han Dynasty and has a history of more than 2000 years. It is rare at home and abroad for its wide distribution of sites, great difficulty in painting and magnificent pictures. It has a strong artistic connotation and important archaeological research value.

Huashan rock painting is unique because of its combination of landscape, rock painting and the rich social life of Luo Yue, an ancestor of Zhuang Nationality in southern China. On July 15, 2016, at the 40th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Istanbul, Turkey, China's world cultural heritage nomination project "Zuojiang Huashan rock painting cultural landscape" was selected into the world heritage list together with Shennongjia, Hubei Province, becoming the 49th and 50th World Heritage sites in China. Huashan rock painting successfully filled the blank of Chinese rock painting world heritage project.

In December 2017, it was selected into the list of the first batch of national primary and secondary school students' research and practice education bases and camps of the Ministry of education.

World Cultural Heritage

Name of the heritage: Huashan rock painting in Zuojiang, Guangxi

Zuojiang HuashanRock Art Cultural Landscape

Selected time: 2016

Selection criteria: Cultural Heritage (III) (VI)

Location: N22 15 20 e10701 23

Heritage number: 1508

Heritage Description:

Zuojiang rock paintings in Guangxi are mainly distributed on the wide, flat and vertical stone walls of the river bend in Ningming, Longzhou, Chongzuo, Fusui, Daxin and other areas inhabited by Zhuang people in the Zuojiang River Basin of southern Guangxi. They are painted by Luoyue people, the ancestor of Zhuang people, in 79 places. Among them, the frescoes on Huashan cliff of Mingjiang River in Ningming County are the largest and most spectacular, known as "natural exhibition Palace" and "cultural treasure of Zhuang nationality".

Zuojiang Huashan rock painting in Guangxi is located on the Bank of Mingjiang River about 25 kilometers southwest of Ningming County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. There is a broken rock mountain with a river section of 220 meters wide and 45 meters high, forming an obvious concave cliff. There are a large number of ochre red rock paintings painted by Luoyue people, the ancestors of Zhuang nationality, on the cliff. This is the world-famous Huashan rock painting. There are more than 1900 figures in the rock paintings, as well as many animals, bronze drums (or gongs), ring head knives and other figures. Among them, the figure is 2.4 meters high, the small one is only 0.3 meters, and most of them are between 0.6 meters and 1.5 meters. The figure squats down with two feet, opens in eight characters, and holds up with two hands. The whole shape is like breaststroke, with rough and powerful lines and simple image. It is one of the largest ancient rock paintings found at present.

Huashan rock art is a representative of the rock art group in Zuojiang River Basin, and it is also the largest, most abundant and well preserved rock art discovered in China so far. Located on the West Bank of Mingjiang River in Yaoda village, Chengzhong Town, Ningming County, it is a relic left by the witchcraft activities of Luoyue people, the ancestors of Zhuang Nationality in the Zuojiang River Valley of Lingnan from the Warring States period to the Eastern Han Dynasty. It has a history of 1800-2500 years. It is famous for its large scale, spectacular scenes and numerous images. It has become a typical representative of rock paintings in the Zuojiang River Valley of Guangxi. According to experts' research, Huashan rock painting can be traced back to the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period in its early drawing period. It has undergone continuous improvement in the Warring States period, the Western Han Dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty and other historical periods, and then formed this shocking masterpiece.

On July 15, 2016, at the 40th World Heritage conference held in Istanbul Conference Center, Turkey, the rock art and cultural landscape of Huashan Mountain in Zuojiang, Guangxi, China was approved to be included in the world heritage list. According to the research of cultural relic experts, Huashan rock painting is a relic left by the sacrifice of Luoyue people, the ancestors of Zhuang nationality, from the Warring States period to the Eastern Han Dynasty. It has a history of more than 2000 years. Together with the mountains, rivers and platforms, it forms a magnificent cultural landscape of Zuojiang Huashan rock painting.

World Heritage Committee evaluation

Huashan rock painting is located on the steep cliff in Southwest China. These 38 rock paintings show scenes of Luoyue people's life and religious rituals. These paintings can be traced back to the 5th century B.C. to the 2nd century A.D. together with their karst landforms, rivers and platforms, giving people a glimpse of the original appearance of the bronze drum culture rituals that were popular in southern China in the past. This cultural landscape is now the only witness of the existence of this culture.

Portrait content

Jiangjunya rock painting is a picture drawn on the cliff from the Warring States period to the Eastern Han Dynasty. It is 14.5km southeast of Ningming County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on the East Bank of Beiming River in huashantun (see photo). Huashan is called "Balai" in Zhuang language and translated into "stone mountain with painting" in Chinese. It has been recorded in song and Ming Dynasties. It was found in the early 1950s. In 1988, the State Council of the people's Republic of China announced it as a national key cultural relics protection unit. The picture is near the river, and the cliff is obviously inclined.

The length of the picture is about 172 meters, the highest distance from the river is about 90 meters, the bottom is 30 meters higher than the river, and the distance from the first terrace at the foot of the mountain ranges from 3 to 10 meters. The painting pigment is ochre red hematite powder, diluted with animal fat, and painted directly on the natural cliff with grass or bird feathers.

Simple style

The painting method adopts a single color block flat painting method, which only shows the external outline of the painted object, without detailed description. The style is simple, the style is rough, and the scene is very spectacular. There are more than 1900 existing images, including characters, animals and utensils. The figure only shows the head, neck, body and limbs, without facial features and other details. The basic shape is divided into two types: the front body and the side body. The figure is tall and the largest one is more than 2 meters high. Both arms are extended to both sides, elbows are raised, legs are spread, knees are bent and squatted, and a long sword or sword is worn across the waist. There are a large number of lateral figures with small shapes. Most of them are raised with arms extending from the chest, with legs moving forward, facing one side and jumping.

The animal images are mainly dogs, which are lateral and trot like. The images of the utensils mainly include knives, swords, bronze drums and bronze sheep horn bells. Swords and swords are usually worn around the waist of a person. There are a large number of bronze drums. Only the surface of the drum is drawn. Some drums have awns in the center and some drums have ears on the side. These images are interlaced on the screen and combined into one by one

Unit, line up the whole picture. The typical combination is: a tall and big body with sword as the center, a dog at the foot, one or several bronze drums at the crotch or beside, and many short side people around or on the left and right sides. These pictures may be the records of a sacrificial ceremony and the remains of witchcraft culture. Due to the long-term exposure of rock paintings, the colors of many portraits gradually fade and become blurred. Some walls have collapsed, and protection measures are being studied.

Brief introduction of rock art

Huashan rock art is a representative of the rock art group in Zuojiang River Basin, and it is also the largest, most abundant and well preserved rock art discovered in China so far. Located on the West Bank of Mingjiang River in Yaoda village, Chengzhong Town, Ningming County, it is a relic left by the witchcraft activities of Luoyue people, the ancestors of Zhuang Nationality in the Zuojiang River Valley of Lingnan from the Warring States period to the Eastern Han Dynasty. It has a history of 1800-2500 years. It is famous for its large scale, spectacular scenes and numerous images. It has become a typical representative of rock paintings in the Zuojiang River Valley of Guangxi. In 1988, it was announced by the State Council as a national key cultural relics protection unit. It has been listed in the preparatory list for China to declare world cultural heritage. According to experts' research, Huashan rock painting can be traced back to the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period in its early drawing period. It has undergone continuous improvement in the Warring States period, the Western Han Dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty and other historical periods, and then formed this shocking masterpiece.

Huashan is called pay in Zhuang

Chinese PinYin : Hua Shan Bi Hua