Harvesting history in fields of stone

As 51-year-old Bai Suli walked around the perimeter of Yongtai Mausoleum her eyes carefully scanned the imposing stone statues.

She has been protecting the site — one of the Northern Song Mausoleums in Gongyi, Henan province — for 18 years.

Unlike the imperial tomb complexes of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, many of the mausoleums from the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) stand in harmony with the surrounding farmland. Striking stone figures of officials, mythical creatures and animals form silent, eerie-looking rows against a backdrop of shimmering fields and distant hills.

"Every spring, the wheat grows green. Summer comes, and the grain turns golden. Autumn paints the fields with sorghum and sunflowers, and winter blankets the land with snow," Bai said, describing the mausoleum's shifting seasonal scenery.

This summer the Northern Song Mausoleums were celebrated online as the "guardians of the wheat fields", with the statues gaining widespread popularity on social media.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian released a poetic post on the social network X accompanying a video of the wheat fields. "Harvesters move through waves of grain, while Song Dynasty imperial tomb statues, around 1,000 years old, stand in silence," he wrote.

Local authorities, experts and village leaders have to carefully balance tasks relating to preservation of the relics and tourism. The open-air stone statues need to be protected and safeguarded and villagers' incomes maintained. Digital technology also plays an important role in stopping permanent erosion of the stone relics, while also helping make them accessible for modern tourists.