Animated film All Wishes Come True renews interest in Shanxi's Yongle Palace

The runaway success of the Chinese animated film All Wishes Come True has renewed public interest in one of Shanxi province's cultural treasures: Yongle Palace in Yuncheng.

Throughout the film, the term "Yongle" recurs, tying the story to real-world landmarks including Yongle Town and Yongle Palace itself. Key scenes are modeled directly on two Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) murals — Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea and Chaoyuan Tu, a depiction of Taoist deities paying homage to the heavenly court — which adorn the walls of the palace's Chunyang Hall and Sanqing Hall.

The palace was built in commemoration of Lyu Dongbin, one of the most renowned of the eight immortals. Historical records place his birth during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) in an area corresponding to present-day Yongle town of Ruicheng county. In 2011, Ruicheng was designated the "Hometown of Lyu Zu Culture in China".

Today, Yongle Palace is China's largest and best-preserved Taoist temple complex, and among the first sites named to the country's list of nationally protected cultural heritage. Its walls hold more than 1,000 square meters of murals, representing the most complete surviving collection of Yuan Dynasty Taoist murals in China and the largest known repository of ancient mural art in the world.

Chen Shuo contributed to this story.