Bailuyuan Film and TV Scenic Spot

About this audio guide

This guide to Bailuyuan Film and TV Scenic Spot in Xi'an centers on the writer Chen Zhongshi, who spent years secluded in his home village on this plain drafting and burning pages of a novel about two rival clans, the Bai and the Lu, and the collapse of the old Confucian order. It follows the book's path to China's top literary prize, the Mao Dun, in 1997, and to Chen's death from cancer in April 2016, just months before this full-scale recreation of his fictional village opened its gates. You'll hear about the friend he told he wanted a book good enough to rest under his head like a pillow. Walk the reconstructed lane at your own pace, matching it against the story in your memory.