Yongle Palace Mural Art Week kicks off in Shanxi's Ruicheng county

The launching ceremony of the Yongle Palace Mural Art Week kicked off on Tuesday in Ruicheng county of Yuncheng, Shanxi province, aiming to build a national platform for mural art exchanges and promote a new chapter of culture and tourism integration.

Yu Min, secretary of the Ruicheng county Party committee, said the Yongle Palace murals, spanning over 700 years, carry China's profound cultural heritage. The launch of the Mural Copying Base and art week will support preservation, inheritance, academic exchange, and talent cultivation. Ruicheng will deepen cooperation with art colleges nationwide and develop the mural industry to bring the Yongle Palace murals to the whole country, he added.

This summer, the animated film All Wishes Come True renewed public interest in Yongle Palace, featuring elements linked to Yongle Town and the palace.

Yongle Palace was built to commemorate Lyu Dongbin, one of the eight immortals, born in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) in present-day Yongle Town. It is China's largest and best-preserved Taoist temple complex and among the first batch of nationally protected cultural heritage sites, housing over 1,000 square meters of Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) Taoist murals.

As a core event, an exhibition of copies of Chinese mural masterpieces opened simultaneously. It marks the first joint exhibition of China's three top mural treasures—Yongle Palace, Dunhuang, and Fahai Temple—showcasing over 170 fine copies from the Yongle Palace Mural Protection Research Institute, Dunhuang Academy, the Cultural Protection Office of Fahai Temple, and art students nationwide.

The art week also includes academic seminars, live painting by renowned artists, and art salons.

Wang Juan contributed to this story.