Chinese Artist Honored By Guinness World Record For The World's Longest and Most Detailed Wood Carving

A Chinese artist has won a place in the Guinness Book of Records after creating the world's longest wooden carving. Zheng Chunhui, a famous wood carver, spent four years making the artwork which is over 40ft long and made from a single tree trunk. The scene is essentially a copy of the famous Chinese painting 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival' which was created over 1,000 years ago.

Though it has been replicated many times, Chunhui's version, which is made from a single piece of tree trunk, is surely the most spectacular. The complicated work features boats, bridges, building and even 550 individually carved people. The piece measures 12.286 meters long, is 3.075 meters tall at it highest point, and is also 2.401 meters wide. The original painting, referred to as the 'Chinese Mona Lisa' because of its fame, was finished during the Song Dynasty by artist Zhang Zeduan.

The work was awarded the world record on Thursday last week as part of Guinness World Records Day, set up to honor the day the book of records became the best-selling copyright book. Other records broken on the same day included the most hula hoops spun simultaneously, which was broken in the UK, by the ‘Marawa's Majorettes’ dance group, who spun 264 hula hoops between them.