Natural Wonders and Human Spectacles (Part 2)
Section 2: Remarkable People and Extraordinary Feats. The World's Longest Human "Domino" — Changsha's Ten-Thousand-Person "Domino." At the opening ceremony of the 2003 China Hunan Tourism Festival, a ten-thousand-person "domino" was staged on the main road of Changsha Window of the World Park. A total of 10,000 publicly recruited Guinness record challengers were divided into 20 formations and lined up...
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Section II
Extraordinary People and Masters Set Guinness Records
The World's Longest Human "Domino" — Changsha's Ten-Thousand-Person "Domino"
At the opening ceremony of the 2003 China Hunan Tourism Festival, a ten-thousand-person "domino" was staged on the main road inside Changsha Window of the World Park. A total of 10,000 Guinness record challengers recruited openly were divided into 20 square formations, lined up in zones to form sections with different themes, and arranged neatly in order along the main road of Window of the World. They leaned back in the manner of dominoes, ten thousand people stacked one after another, and finally, through changes in clothing colors and artistic patterns, expressed the theme of "hearts and hands linked, dragons soaring across the world." This event broke the previous Guinness World Record for the longest human "domino," created by 9,250 people in Singapore.
Guinness Record for Mass Group Rope Skipping — Changsha's Three Thousand People Skipping Together
At 8:30 on July 12, 2007, 3,009 challengers dressed uniformly in white T-shirts on Changsha's Huangxing Road Commercial Pedestrian Street successfully broke the Guinness World Record for group rope skipping. This was Hunan's first Guinness record certified on site by a Guinness adjudicator. This rope-skipping event, named the "C'estbon Cup," was a mass challenge to welcome the Olympics and promote nationwide fitness. Compared with individual events, challenging Guinness as a group is very difficult. This challenge required 3,000 people to skip rope together for 3 minutes at the same time and in the same place; it looked simple but was actually not easy. After the rope skipping ended, several notaries observing on site, together with Mr. Wang Jun, the British Guinness China adjudicator, carefully checked, counted, and certified the relevant materials. After more than an hour of intense work, the challenge was finally judged successful.
The World's Most Spectacular Banquet — the Dong Family Helong Banquet
In 2009, Huaihua City held a ten-thousand-person Helong Banquet. Every household brought the best dishes and wine from home and set out a banquet in a "long dragon" stretching dozens of meters. Its liveliness, its spectacular scale, and its uniqueness are probably unmatched by banquets anywhere in the world. This is the Dong family "Helong Banquet" of Tongdao, Hunan, which has been entered into the Guinness World Records. How did the "Helong Banquet" come about? Legend has it that the Dong hero Wu Mian led an uprising army through a Dong village and was kept as a guest by the village elder. When the villagers learned of this, every household wanted to invite the hero to eat, and none was willing to yield. At this point, a clever girl in the village came up with an idea: find an empty flat area in the middle of the village, have each household contribute one dish, bring wooden boards to set up a long table, and put the food together to jointly invite the hero to eat. Thus it was passed down and became today's "Helong Banquet."
The World's Largest Handicraft Pillow — the Olympic Giant Pillow
On August 8, 2008, Hu Baoqiao, a retired female worker from Yiyang Rubber and Plastic Machinery Group Co., Ltd., made the world's largest handmade cloth-appliqué craft pillow and planned to apply for a Guinness record. This pillow took 290 days to make, is 7.5 meters long and 1.5 meters wide, and is rich in content, covering all Olympic symbols. It was Hu Baoqiao's gift to the Beijing Olympics. At the same time, the 51-year-old also made 2,008 Olympic embroidered shoes and set records for the world's largest dragon-and-phoenix shoes and the smallest mung-bean shoes, winning first place in Lenovo's Olympic torchbearer selection event.
Founder of Guinness World Architectural Projects — Li Hongjin of Yongshun
Li Hongjin, born in 1968 in Yongshun County, Hunan Province, is a famous design master in the world ethnic architecture industry and has been praised as a contemporary "living Lu Ban." The "Nine Heavens" he earlier designed and built in the Tujia Customs Park has already been entered into the Guinness World Records. Since August 2006, in the planning and design of the ethnic cultural project Bashu Sacred Mountain, he created three more Guinness World Records for ethnic cultural architecture: the first is the tallest Tujia eight-character ceremonial gate; the second is the Tujia Hall of the White Tiger composed of 999 white tigers; and the third is the world's tallest tiger-shaped fire-sealing wall.
Founder of the Guinness 100-Meter Nüshu Long Scroll — Xie Shaolin of Jiangyong
A 100-meter-long Nüshu calligraphy scroll of 35,000 characters, created by Chinese Nüshu calligrapher Xie Shaolin, the youngest male inheritor of Nüshu, was selected for a Guinness record. Jiangyong Nüshu is the only female script discovered in the world today and is also a special phonetic script. It is praised as a treasure of world culture and is now on the verge of extinction. Last year, the meeting of the World Memory Engineering Federation included the "Yongzhou Nüshu Archives and Documents" in the first batch of the "China Archives and Documents Heritage List."
The World's Only Existing Gender Script — Jiangyong Nüshu
Jiangyong County is located at the southern border of Hunan Province and is under the administration of Yongzhou City. Jiangyong Nüshu circulated only in the Shangjiangxu area of Jiangyong County, which has a population of only 20,000. Jiangyong Nüshu is the only gender script existing in the world today — a script used exclusively by women. Its development, transmission, and the cultural information carried by its symbols constitute the unique Nüshu culture. Nüshu characters are long diamond-shaped, with slender and even strokes, resembling mosquitoes or ants; folk people call them long-legged mosquito script or ant script. Because it was used exclusively by women, the academic world called it "Nüshu." Jiangyong Nüshu is an ancient script, which experts and scholars have generally agreed upon, but because there are no ancient artifacts of Nüshu and it was not recorded in historical gazetteers, its time of origin cannot be determined. Nüshu has important research value for many disciplines, including linguistics, history, archaeology, anthropology, women's studies, folklore, sociology, aesthetics, and ethnic cultural history and folk literature. On October 20, 2005, Nüshu from Jiangyong County, Yongzhou City, Hunan Province, was selected into the Guinness World Records as the script with the strongest gender consciousness.
The World's Largest Go Board — the Fenghuang Bluestone Go Board
In 2003, the board used in the China-Korea International Go Invitational Tournament held at the Southern Great Wall in western Hunan was the world's largest Go board. This board was designed and made by enlarging the area of a standard international Go tournament board by 5,051.83 times. Its side length is 31.7 meters, its total area is 1,004.89 square meters, the side length of each small grid is 1.6 meters, and the area of each grid is 2.56 square meters (a standard board has a side length of 0.446 meters, an area of 0.198916 square meters, a small grid side length of 0.023 meters, and a grid area of 0.000529 square meters). The surface layer of the board is entirely made of bluestone and red sandstone quarried within Fenghuang County, Xiangxi. According to calculations, the board consumed 40.19 cubic meters of stone material, with a total stone weight of 131.84 tons.
China's Largest Soup Spoon — the Jade Soup Spoon
The giant soup spoon custom-made by the China Hunan Cuisine Museum — the "Number One Spoon Under Heaven." The spoon is 4.06 meters long, 1.218 meters wide, 1.118 meters high, and weighs 2 tons. This spoon was made by a stone materials company in Hebei from a whole piece of Fangshan jade through mechanical cutting and processing, and the entire production period took more than 3 months. In terms of shape, the Number One Spoon Under Heaven imitates the spoon shape in the famous "Mao porcelain," with plum blossoms and traditional auspicious cloud patterns carved inside the spoon and on the handle, implying nobility and peace. The spoon is finely crafted, with beautiful and smooth lines, and has high collectible value. At present, the China Hunan Cuisine Museum has applied to the Guinness World Records headquarters in the United Kingdom for a Guinness World Record.
The World's Longest Fu Shou Noodles — Yuxiang "Fu Shou" Noodles
At the opening ceremony of the 2006 China Hunan Tourism Festival, "Fu Shou" noodles made by Yuxiang Noodle Industry, as long as 399.99 meters, appeared and left a deep impression on Chinese and foreign tourists. At the large themed dharma assembly "China's Longevity Mountain, Fu Shou China" held at the Nanyue Grand Temple, eminent monks of Buddhism and Taoism at Nanyue jointly consecrated these "Number One Fu Shou Noodles Under Heaven" to pray for blessings and longevity for the Chinese people. It is reported that these are currently the world's longest noodles, and the company that made them — Yuxiang Noodle Industry — submitted this successful achievement to Guinness Records.
The World's Largest Lantern — the Changsha Xiaoyuan Lantern
The lantern designed and made by Hunan Wangda Advertising Company from January 10 to February 10, 1996, in Changsha Xiaoyuan Park is the world's largest lantern. The vertical diameter of the lantern's spherical part is 12.209 meters, the horizontal diameter of the lantern's spherical part is 14.474 meters, and the lantern height is 16.511 meters. This lantern has a steel-and-bamboo structure and consumed a total of 10 tons of steel, 7.2 cubic meters of timber, 300 bamboo strips, 150 kilograms of steel wire, and other auxiliary materials.
The World's Longest Firecracker — the Chengchong Red Firecracker
On October 28, 2007, the world's longest firecracker — the "Chengchong Red Firecracker," 23 kilometers long and weighing about 2,900 kilograms in total — was set off in Liuyang, Hunan, the hometown of fireworks. From Dayao Town, the birthplace of the firecracker ancestor, to the General's Square in Liuyang City, with a total length of 20.8 kilometers, the firecracker was set off for 1 hour and 10 minutes, creating a new firecracker-setting record.
Guinness Fireworks and Pyrotechnics — Liuyang Fireworks
On August 8, 2008, the absolutely beautiful fireworks became the most dazzling highlight of the Beijing Olympic Games opening ceremony, making the entire city of Beijing shine brilliantly! The Liuyang fireworks set off at the Beijing opening ceremony set three Guinness records. First, the number of fireworks set off was the greatest in Olympic history, with a total of more than 120,000 rounds, four times the total set off in all previous 28 Olympic Games; second, from the Great Wall to the Bird's Nest, the fireworks display covered an area of more than 100 square kilometers, and the entire Beijing urban area was illuminated; such a large area was also unprecedented; third, a large waterfall made of fireworks and 3,000 meters long appeared at the opening ceremony, which was a miracle.
The World's Longest Wind and Rain Bridge — the Zhijiang Longjin Wind and Rain Bridge
The Longjin Wind and Rain Bridge, rebuilt in Zhijiang County, has a total length of 252 meters, setting a Guinness World Record for the length of a wind and rain bridge. It consists of three parts: the bridge, the corridor, and the pavilions. There are 16 piers, warship-shaped and built of regular square bluestone. The bridge is 12.2 meters wide, with a passageway of 5.8 meters. Seen from afar, it resembles a long dragon playing in the water, mighty, majestic, and full of vitality. On the reinforced concrete bridge surface, the corridor and pavilions form an integrated whole: "pavilions above the corridor, corridor below the pavilions." The bridge is 15 meters high and sits into the vault of the sky, uniquely styled. Seen up close, the piers are like 16 fast warships braving the waves and cutting through the sea. It adopts a hanging-beam suspension construction method, making the pavilions and eaves of the bridge rise gracefully, with a flying posture. On the corridor ridges between the pavilions are embedded beast heads and golden "double dragons contending for the treasure," each vividly lifelike.
China's Largest Wooden Stilted Building — the Zhangjiajie Nine Heavens Stilted Building
The Nine Heavens in the Tujia Customs Park in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, is uniquely and exquisitely designed. The building is 48 meters high and has 12 stories. The entire building is connected entirely with wooden pegs, without using a single iron nail. Nine Heavens has 333 pillars, countless beams and brackets, and upturned eaves and flying corners. It is a typical representative work of Tujia architecture and also an astonishing work of the world, displaying the eight-hundred-year Tujia chieftain cultural system and the history of Tujia reproduction, farming labor, and weddings and funerals. On September 22, 2002, the Nine Heavens stilted building was entered into the Guinness World Records, which recognized it as currently China's largest, tallest, and most perfect wooden stilted building.
The World's Largest Longevity Ding — the "China Longevity Ding" of Nanyue
In 2000, the China Longevity Ding was cast atop Jiahe Peak on Mount Heng in Nanyue. It is cast entirely in bronze, stands 9.9 meters tall — signifying the return of all to one and the unity of China — and weighs 56 tons, symbolizing the unity of China's 56 ethnic groups. Cast onto its walls are 10,000 "shou" (longevity) characters in different dynastic styles, different ethnic scripts, and different calligraphic forms, signifying the boundless longevity of the Chinese nation. The construction of the "China Longevity Ding" produced two Guinness World Records: the largest ding in the world, and the ding with the most "shou" characters in the world. It further consolidated the special status of Mount Heng in Nanyue as the "Longevity Mountain" and "Longevity Peak," and shaped the unique cultural connotation of blessing and longevity of Nanyue.
The Number One Drum Under Heaven — the Great Drum of Mount Heng in Nanyue
In September 2006, a giant drum — the "Number One Drum Under Heaven" — was newly added to Mount Heng in Nanyue. It is 1.89 meters thick and 3.48 meters in diameter. Both drumheads are made of a single whole sheet of cowhide, and the rim is made of poplar wood. Named the "China Longevity Mountain Drum," it has been entered into the Guinness World Records and is permanently kept by the Nanyue Grand Temple, the "Number One Temple in Jiangnan."
The World's Longest Paper-Carving Picture — Changde Paper Carving
On October 28, 2007, the paper-carving picture "Along the River During the Qingming Festival," produced with an investment of 3 million yuan by the Changde Paper Carving Art Research Center in Hunan Province, measured 32.76 meters long and 1.10 meters high. As soon as it was completed, the work won the Guinness World Record for "longest and largest paper-carving picture." This paper-carving picture used more than 200 kinds of paper of different colors and textures, involved 36 creators, took 17 months, and was completed in May 2006. Based on the famous Song Dynasty painting, the work faithfully reproduces the appearance of the original while incorporating the unique artistic temperament of paper carving; the figures, flowers, plants, and buildings are all vividly lifelike.
The Number One Dragon Under Heaven — the Giant Dragon of Biancheng in Huayuan
In 1997, during the activity "Welcome the Return of Hong Kong," the 199.7-meter-long "Biancheng Giant Dragon," planned by Zhang Zhongxian, a folk artist from Biancheng Town in Huayuan County, Hunan, who was over seventy years old, won praise as the "Number One Dragon Under Heaven" and was selected into the "Guinness Book of World Records." In 1999, to welcome the "Return of Macao" and the arrival of the "Millennium Dragon Year," the "Biancheng Giant Dragon" soared into Beijing once again and successively won the highest national award for folk literature and art — the "Shanhua Award" — as well as the "Guoan Cup" and "Golden Dragon Cup" and other awards.
Related Records
The Meteorological Wonders of Tianmen Mountain
Tianmen Spitting Mist: The most famous wonder of Tianmen Mountain is undoubtedly Tianmen Spitting Mist. As the name suggests, Tianmen Spitting Mist means mist spitting out from inside Tianmen Cave. Tianmen Spitting Mist generally appears in relatively humid seasons, most often in spring. Before the mist is spat out, the front side of Tianmen Cave is filled with mist — and "filled" is the only word for it. Especially on rainy and overcast days, one could say that beyond two meters below Tianmen Cave, nothing can be seen clearly. In such weather, people often arrive at the mouth of Tianmen Cave and are still looking for where Tianmen Cave is. In such high mountains, in such thick mist, all around is quiet and clear, with neither sky nor earth; at such a time one can only feel as if one is placed within a fairyland. On clear days, Tianmen Spitting Mist appears even more magical. At first, wisps and threads of cloud and mist slowly slide into Tianmen Cave from the side walls on both flanks of the cave. Most people pay no attention. When it has gathered to a certain degree, all the cloud and mist suddenly comes "whoosh" out from the back side of Tianmen Cave. All around is blue sky, while at Tianmen Cave there is a thick white mass of mist, and the mist does not disperse immediately but stays there. Below Tianmen Cave are the 999 steps of the Stairway to Heaven, which at this moment truly becomes a heavenly ladder connecting heaven and the human world. Under this magical scene, many people cannot help but bow in worship.
Tianmen Divine Light: Tianmen Divine Light generally appears on clear days with few clouds. Tianmen Cave stands at an altitude of more than 1,200 meters, and people can only look up at Tianmen Cave. When the sun comes out, due to lighting and geographical position and other reasons, many beams of bright sunlight shoot out from the back side of Tianmen Cave. Seen from afar, it is like a halo from the heavenly realm. Together with the blue sky and white clouds behind the cave, the whole Tianmen Cave at this time is like a heavenly mirror that can reflect all the states of human life — magnificent and fantastical.
Mirage: Everyone knows that mirages generally appear in open places such as the sea and deserts, but a mirage has also appeared at Tianmen Mountain. Someone in Zhangjiajie captured with a camera the scene of a mirage at Tianmen Mountain: a grand complex of ancient buildings, just like a heavenly palace and earthly gate. In a mountainous area like Zhangjiajie, apart from Tianmen Mountain, one probably could not find any other place to see a mirage.
Buddha's Halo: The most famous is said to be at the Golden Summit of Emei, and it is said that only those with destiny can see it. But at Tianmen Mountain, many passing tourists have seen Buddha's Halo. Tianmen Mountain is the Number One Divine Mountain of Xiangxi, so the appearance of Buddha's Halo is also a matter of course; however, its relatively frequent appearance, and the fact that it appears at different times and places, is puzzling. In one appearance of Buddha's Halo, a group of Korean guests discovered it while riding the cableway. That day the mist was very thick, and the entire cableway ran through milk-like dense fog, a vast expanse of white. Suddenly someone saw around the cabin ahead a ring of bright white light. Because the cabin ahead was red, although there was fog all around, that ring of bright white appeared especially conspicuous, and everyone in the whole cabin was in an uproar. All of them were seeing Buddha's Halo for the first time, and on such a divine mountain; they were extraordinarily excited and considered it an auspicious sign. The other appearances of Buddha's Halo were all near Tianmen Mountain Temple at the summit. The title of Tianmen Mountain as the "Number One Divine Mountain of Xiangxi" truly lives up to its name.
The Number One Helong Banquet Under Heaven
Among the Dong people there is a custom of "seizing guests" on festival days. Of course, there were also those who could not seize any guests, so they had no choice but to go to the homes with many guests to discuss and ask to share the guests. The other side then proposed: you can bring your own food over and eat together, and if there are not enough tables, just set up boards and piece them together. This was the later Helong Banquet.
On September 14, 2009, the Huaihua "Number One Helong Banquet Under Heaven" tourism-themed activity opened at the Dong Culture City. Yuan Longping, vice chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and "father of hybrid rice," personally lit the stove fire of the Helong Banquet, and Tan Zhongchi, vice chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the Hunan Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, announced the opening of the activity. Tens of thousands of guests and tourists from all over gathered for the grand feast, drinking the fine wine of the Dong countryside while enjoying original ecological songs and dances; the scene was truly spectacular.
At this Helong Banquet, the world's largest iron pot was used, and on-site tourists ate a delicious "big-pot meal" together. At the start of the Helong Banquet, first the recruited tourist representatives born on October 1 and aged 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, and 10, together with a friend from the United Kingdom, poured super hybrid rice cultivated by Academician Yuan Longping into the great iron pot. The first lucky person to pour rice was Mr. He, a 60-year-old from Changsha. Afterwards, Yuan Longping took the torch from the hands of the ancient Shennong and strode toward the great pot, lighting the firewood under the pot for cooking rice. Tourists and guests who came to the main venue not only tasted the "Number One Helong Banquet Under Heaven" but also enjoyed a wonderful artistic performance.
This activity had five venues in total. In addition to the main venue, sub-banquet venues were also set up in four counties: Zhijiang, Jingzhou, Xinhuang, and Tongdao, forming an eye-catching grand occasion of ten thousand people eating the Helong Banquet together. The total number of participants was 10,200, setting a Shanghai Great World Guinness Record. The great pot cooking rice on site at the main venue, Dong Culture City, was also one of the highlights: the great pot was 4.5 meters in diameter, 3 meters high, and weighed 2 tons, setting the record for the "Number One Iron Pot Under Heaven."
The activities at the four sub-venues were also highly creative. The Zhijiang sub-venue gathered song and dance programs of Huaihua's Miao, Yao, Dong, Tujia, and other ethnic minorities; the Jingzhou sub-venue used preserved fruits unique to the Dong people to piece together a huge map of China, which would set the world record for the "Number One Preserved Fruit Under Heaven"; at the Xinhuang sub-venue, the whole-ox banquet, bullfighting competition, ox-god sacrifice, and other customs of the ancient Yelang recreated the atmosphere of the old Yelang land; tourists at the Tongdao sub-venue drank gate-blocking wine and fully enjoyed the Dong people's "Three Treasures" at Huangdu Dong Village: the wind-and-rain bridge, the drum tower, and the pavilion.
The Helong Banquet began on September 14 and continued all the way to the "National Day Golden Week." Tourists going to Huaihua could all taste the Helong Banquet at their own expense.