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A retired teacher recreates a Song dynasty scroll in sesame seeds
几百万粒芝麻拼出《清明上河图》
Over five years, a 76-year-old in Nantong glued millions of sesame seeds into a 12-metre copy of China’s most famous painted scroll.
In short
Hou Xu, a 76-year-old retired teacher in Nantong, Jiangsu, spent more than five years making a 12-metre copy of Along the River During the Qingming Festival from several million sesame seeds, nearly 9 jin (about 4.5 kg) in all. For the finest lines, such as folds in clothing, he split single seeds into eight pieces.
How he did it
Hou used black, white and brown sesame seeds and roasted them to different degrees to get a range of tones, which separate the layers of the scene. The Rainbow Bridge section alone has more than 180 figures, each built from individual seeds. To draw the fine folds of their clothes he split single seeds into eight pieces.
He told reporters that the original is so detailed it moved him, so he chose sesame seeds to show it in a new way.[1][2]
The painting he copied
Along the River During the Qingming Festival (清明上河图) is a hand scroll by Zhang Zeduan, a painter of the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127). It shows daily life in the capital, Bianjing, along its river during the Qingming festival. The original, about 5.3 metres long and 25 cm high, is kept at the Palace Museum in Beijing as a national treasure, so Hou’s version is more than twice its length.[3]
Sources
- Mengma News via Sina News, man makes 12 m Qingming scroll from 9 jin of sesame (28 October 2026, in Chinese) · accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Xiaoxiang Morning Herald via China.com, 76-year-old teacher makes Qingming scroll from millions of sesame seeds (28 October 2026, in Chinese) · accessed 29 Oct 2026
- China Daily, Moving ‘Along the River During the Qingming Festival’ on display in Xiamen (12 July 2023) · accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Baidu Hot Search, story summary (29 October 2026, in Chinese) · accessed 29 Oct 2026
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