Why is The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival a national treasure?

The reason is that The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival is unique in the world, showing the city appearance of Kaifeng Prefecture in the Northern Song Dynasty. The whole painting is more than 5 meters long, and 8 14 people are depicted in this 5-meter-long scroll. This painting is a unique creation in the history of world painting.

The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival is one of the top ten famous paintings handed down by China. It is a genre painting of the Northern Song Dynasty and the only masterpiece that Zhang Zeduan, a painter of the Northern Song Dynasty, has ever seen. This is a national treasure, which is now in the Palace Museum in Beijing.

The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival is 24.8 cm wide and 528.7 cm long, and it is in silk color. In the form of a long scroll, the work vividly records the city appearance of Tokyo, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty in China in the12nd century, and the living conditions of people from all walks of life at that time. It is a witness to the prosperity of Bianjing, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, and also a portrayal of the economic situation of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Later generations' comments on Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival;

The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival is not only a treasure of realistic painting art, but also provides us with first-hand information on the detailed images of the capital city of the Northern Song Dynasty in terms of commerce, handicrafts, folk customs, architecture and transportation, which is of great historical document value. Its rich ideological connotation, unique aesthetic perspective and realistic expression techniques make it regarded as a classic in the painting history of China and even the world.