Song Dynasty Statues Amid Wheat Fields Tell China’s Heritage Story

Beijing. June marks the wheat harvest season in Baling Village of Gongyi, in central China’s Henan Province. Across the golden fields, harvesters move back and forth while towering stone statues from the Northern Song Dynasty stand silently in the farmland.

Baling, which literally means “Eight Mausoleums,” is closely linked to the imperial mausoleums of the Northern Song Dynasty. The stone statues, carved between 960 and 1126, still stand along fields, roads and open rural spaces near the village. A total of 1,027 stone relics have survived in the area, earning the site a reputation as an “open-air museum of ancient sculpture.”

Unlike historical objects usually displayed behind glass in museums, the relics in Baling remain part of daily rural life. Farmland shaped by the Yellow River, wheat fields, farmers’ labour and thousand-year-old statues come together in a single landscape.

Liang, a tourist from Sichuan Province, said history feels tangible in Baling. According to him, the fields and stone statues offer a unique experience that no museum can provide.

However, the presence of ancient relics in an open environment has also raised questions. Some people wonder why the statues are not enclosed in glass or protective structures. Zhu Xingli, head of Gongyi’s cultural relics administration, said such enclosures could actually harm the relics.

According to Zhu, the statues have endured freezing winters and hot summers for centuries. If they were enclosed in glass cases, airflow would be blocked and heat could be trapped inside, creating a sauna-like environment that might damage the relics instead of protecting them.

For him, preservation does not mean simply covering or isolating an object. It also means protecting the natural and cultural landscape with which the relics have been connected for generations.

This coexistence has also made Baling attractive to photographers. Amateur photographer Liu Liheng has tried to capture high-speed trains, ancient stone statues and golden wheat fields in a single frame. For him, the scene represents a conversation between China’s past and present.

Baling reflects China’s broader effort to protect its vast cultural heritage while keeping it connected with contemporary life. China launched its latest nationwide cultural heritage survey in 2023. Scheduled to conclude this month, the survey has re-examined around 767,000 heritage sites recorded in the previous census and identified more than 130,000 additional heritage locations.

Alongside outdoor heritage sites such as the Song Dynasty stone carvings, China also preserves a vast number of cultural relics in museums. The country now has more than 7,000 registered museums. In 2025, these museums hosted around 45,000 exhibitions and attracted 1.56 billion visits.

Saturday marks China’s Cultural and Natural Heritage Day. The National Cultural Heritage Administration said cultural authorities and institutions across the country will organize more than 7,000 online and offline events to mark the occasion.

China’s idea of heritage protection is no longer limited to museum walls. Beijing’s Central Axis, a 7.8-kilometre north–south corridor linking many of the capital’s major historical landmarks, has become a model for balancing heritage conservation with urban development. It is also one of China’s 60 World Heritage sites.

In the Caochang neighbourhood near Tian’anmen Square, old buildings, guild halls and courtyard compounds have been restored while being adapted for modern use. Vacant traditional courtyard homes have been converted into boutique hotels, yet they remain integrated with the surrounding residential community.

Hao Dongxue, deputy general manager of Tianjie Group, which manages the restoration project, said the traditional architectural character has been preserved while modern amenities have been introduced. According to him, such projects have also helped improve the wider neighbourhood.

Local resident Jiao Shuqin said the alleys of Caochang still carry the atmosphere of traditional Beijing. The grey brick walls, old trees and courtyard houses continue to preserve the area’s historical character.

From stone statues standing in wheat fields to restored neighbourhoods in the capital, China’s heritage conservation approach shows that the past is not being treated merely as a static object. Instead, it is being preserved as a cultural force connected to present-day life.

Du Xiaofan, director of the Center for Land and Cultural Resources Research at Fudan University in Shanghai, said the purpose of heritage protection is not only to preserve the past. It is also to sustain the spiritual and cultural ties between humanity and heritage for future generations.