600-years-old Taoism temple gets a face lift

Updated: 2013-04-10

In China's Hubei Province, where a 600-years-old Taoism architecture, Yuzhen Palace, at Wudang Mountains is getting a 15-meter lift up. This is to stop the site being flooded by rising waters of the Danjiangkou reservoir. Momentous as the task may be, it is now nearing completion.

In China's Hubei Province, where a 600-years-old Taoism architecture, Yuzhen Palace, at Wudang Mountains is getting a 15-meter lift up. This is to stop the site being flooded by rising waters of the Danjiangkou reservoir.Momentous as the task may be, it is now nearing completion. (CNTV)

All this would soon have been underwater if it were not for the project to lift it to higher grounds. But nothing on this scale has ever done before. The highest lift that a similar structure had was 4 meters. And the fact that it's a precious historical monument makes it all the more difficult. The palace walls have become fragile over the years and water has seeped into the soil underneath. Despite what seems to be the impossible, workers here are just a breath away from the required height, 13 centimetres to be precise. But there's still more work to be done.

Li Xuguang, architect, said, "After we finish lifting the palace, we will build support walls for the palace gates and a platform that it can rest on. It will be done in around April."

The palace gates need special support because of their astonishing weight. The heaviest one weighs 4600 tons, that's heavier than 600 elephants.

It is still a mystery how the ancient Chinese managed to build gates of this stature, moving rocks uphill without modern equipment. And there's even more to marvel at when the project is complete.

Zhao Benxin, Deputy Director of Wudang Bureau of Cultural Relics & Religion, said, "The entire project will be completed by 2016, and the Yuzhen Palace will be truly a sight to behold then. It will open to the public on the same year."

Aside from the palace, other relics and structures around it will also be lifted and restored.

It is still a mystery how the ancient Chinese managed to build gates of this stature, moving rocks uphill without modern equipment. (CNTV)