Protecting the living monuments

At the Beijing Stone Carving Art Museum, formerly a temple, two ginkgo trees, each with a diameter exceeding 2 meters, stand like sentinels in front of a pagoda. These ginkgos, each more than 600 years old, guard the ancient structure with timeless grace.

Since autumn, the site has been a magnet for visitors, with thousands arriving daily to capture photos and admire the golden tree leaves. On weekends, the number of visitors can soar to over 3,000.

Wu Di, who works in the museum's cultural relics management department, has been caring for the trees for six years. Each week, he conducts a special "check-up" on the ginkgos, taking photos of them from over a dozen angles to update their digital records. This meticulous monitoring helps track the trees' health, enabling Wu to promptly consult arborists for additional care and treatment.

The museum regularly invites professionals with expertise in the maintenance of ancient trees to carry out routine pruning of the ginkgos. The process requires great caution, as aside from removing dead branches, there is generally no artificial interference or arbitrary trimming involved, Wu explains.

"Our museum houses more than 2,600 artifacts, including steles, epitaphs, stone sculptures and stone carvings, but only these two ancient ginkgos are truly living relics," Wu says.

Upon entering the museum, visitors are immediately greeted by the sight of the majestic Vajra Throne Pagoda. From a distance, the pagoda appears to rest atop a tall base, with five smaller towers constructed on it. This structure, completed in 1473, blends traditional Chinese and Indian architectural styles. Flanking the pagoda are the two ginkgo trees, standing like steadfast guardians, sworn to protect the pagoda.

Wu's primary responsibility is the preservation of ancient towers, stone carvings and other cultural relics. Due to the harmonious natural landscape created by the ginkgos and the pagoda, the museum has allocated funds in recent years for the trees' protection. A donation plaque with a QR code is on one of the trees, allowing visitors to contribute to its preservation.

In September, the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development announced the first-round list of ancient and notable trees and cultural relic sites for collaborative protection. Among the 28 sites selected were the ginkgo trees at the Beijing Stone Carving Art Museum.

The list is a result of a nationwide campaign to preserve ancient and notable trees, designating such trees for better preservation efforts. Ancient trees are classified as those over 100 years old, while notable trees hold historical, cultural, or ecological significance. The ancient trees included on the list are all over 500 years old.

The integration of cultural relic protection with the preservation of ancient trees within a systematic framework stands out as a key highlight of this list, according to Zhang Zhixiang, a professor at Beijing Forestry University, as reported by the Beijing News in October. He emphasizes that ancient and notable trees are regarded as "living cultural relics". He says the exploration of the "dual protection" model for cultural and ecological heritage has, to some extent, strengthened public awareness of the protection of ancient trees.

According to the list, the ancient and notable trees selected are highly compatible with the types of cultural relics they are paired with, forming a distinct feature of matching the characteristics of the tree species with the functions of the relics. Examples include ginkgos paired with historic pagodas, cypresses with imperial tombs, and groups of trees growing at large cultural heritage sites.

At the Jinci Temple in Taiyuan, Shanxi province — a royal ancestral temple dating to the Jin Dynasty (265-420) — a nearly 3,000-year-old cypress tree lies gracefully before a majestic hall, resembling a crouching dragon. The cypress is also listed on the collaborative protection list.

Guo Baoping, director of the Jinci Temple Museum where the temple is located, says that to ensure the scientific and effective protection of ancient trees, extensive research and advanced technologies have been applied. Measures include establishing health archives for each tree and developing patented technology to address issues such as soil compaction and water imbalance. These measures have expanded the space for potential root growth by up to 40 percent.