People interested in classical architecture go to Mount Wutai

For the recent May Day holiday, Mount Wutai, in Shanxi province, put on a 3-hour lecture on classical architecture in the Dabao Temple, on May 2, which proved a real hit at the heritage site and led to some heated discussions among the audience.

The lecture was the idea of a folk club, whose president, Tang Dahua, from Shandong province, organized a tour with a Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) theme, on the carpentry and painted sculptures at Wutai for the club members. Wutai has the oldest examples of Tang carpentry, especially at the Nanchan Temple and the eastern hall of Foguang Temple.

Tang founded the club after visiting more than 700 historical buildings in Shanxi and became a popular blogger as he posted articles and photos of architecture and called on people to protect their heritage. And he got about 60 members, from 10 provinces, to join this trip, including middle school students, doctoral students, policemen, businessmen and travel guides, all of them with a great interest in old buildings.

For example, Li Tao, a 39-year-old architect, who learned about Tang by reading his online articles, and then began paying closer attention to Shanxi architecture and decided to join the trip to explore the old Buddhist structures, then remarked that, while modern architecture is his trade, old architecture is his love.

A 40-year-old tour guide, Zhang Wenzhong, says he has taken hundreds of tour groups to the mountain, but that this was his first time to travel at his own expense because he wanted to learn more about classical architecture and that it might be useful for his career. Many other members said they were touched by magnificence of the Tang structures and that they hope these activities encourage more people to experience the charm, and make people more aware of architecture and the need to preserve this heritage.

Shanxi has a large group of buildings dating back to the Wei Dynasty (220 - 265) and up to the Republic of China period (1912 - 1949), with a wide variety of types. The province has gained a "Museum of Wooden Architecture" title and holds more than 80 percent of China's architecture from before the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368).