A Replica of the Tong’an Ship from the Qing Dynasty Reimagined in an Epic Documentary Premiered at the Palace Museum

 

The Tong’an ship was the largest and most advanced new-type offshore warship of the mid-19th century during the Qing Dynasty. Leveraging its collection of precious historical documents, the National Palace Museum combined modern technology and creative aesthetics to create a 1:20 scale model, allowing the public a chance to see the appearance of one of China’s most representative ancient sailing ships. The museum produced the documentary “Recreating the Tong’an Ship,” relying solely on two extremely rare colored ancient ship illustrations hidden deep in the Qing Dynasty archives—“The Illustration of the Jihao Datong’an Sloop” and “The Illustration of the No.1 Tong’an Sloop”—as historical references. The film restores the flourishing maritime civilization of East Asia in the 19th century and the historical splendor of the Tong’an ship, crafting an epic and moving visual narrative.

The documentary “Recreating the Tong’an Ship” is 50 minutes long and divided into three parts: The first part analyzes the background of the rise of the Tong’an ship, including the recreation of the historical naval battle between Fujian-Zhejiang Governor Li Changgeng and pirate Cai Qian, the establishment of the Tong’an fleet, and the decline of the Tong’an ship alongside the waning maritime power of the Qing Dynasty. The second part describes the restoration process of the Tong’an ship, covering how the Palace Museum project team delved into historical documents to reconstruct an ancient Chinese sailing ship from 200 years ago, as well as the process of making the 1:20 scale model of the Tong’an ship. The third part uses 3D digital technology to deeply analyze the main structures and design features of the Tong’an ship.

In the early 19th century, due to the increasing frequency of pirate activity, the Qing court established naval forces along the coasts of Jiangnan provinces, Taiwan, and Penghu, continuously reinforcing their numbers and forming the Tong’an ship fleet, which became the mainstay of offshore naval defense. It helped control maritime order, stabilize borders, and also served as an invisible bridge politically, militarily, economically, and culturally. However, the Tong’an ship was also widely used by civilians and pirates. Today, the Palace Museum project team, based on the only two surviving illustrations and related documents, conducted in-depth research to build a 1:20 scale model. They also invited experts, scholars, and up-and-coming directors Ke Zijian and Liao Jingyao, as well as 3D animation director Zhang Liren, to collaborate. Using high-end cinematic filming techniques along with 3D technology and other post-production methods, they produced the documentary “Recreating the Tong’an Ship.” The Palace Museum stated that the “Recreating the Tong’an Ship” series will launch with the premiere of the documentary, and is expected to host “Campus Lecture Tours” from March to May this year to share the historical significance and behind-the-scenes stories of the documentary with students. Additionally, a digital exhibition themed around the project will grandly open at Huashan 1914 Creative Park from July 20 to September 22 this year.

 

 

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