Many of China's ancient architectural treasures smashed to dust before Lin Huiyin and Liang Sicheng began documenting them in the 1930s. The husband and wife team were among the first preservationists to operate in China, and by far the best known. Their efforts have since inspired generations of people to speak out for architecture threatened by the rush toward development.
Becoming China's best architectural historians was no easy accomplishment. The buildings they wanted to save were centuries old located in distant parts of the country. In many cases, they had to journey through dangerous conditions in the Chinese countryside to reach them. Exploring China's remote areas during the 1930s meant traveling muddy, poorly maintained roads by mule (骡子) or on foot. Inns were often dirty, food could be polluted, and there was always risk or violence from rebels, soldiers and robbers.
Their greatest discovery was the Temple of Buddha's Light, in Wutai County, Shanxi Province. The breathtaking wooden temple was built in 857A. D. , making it the oldest building known in China at the time.
Liang and Lin crawled into the temple's most forbidding, forgotten areas to determine its age, including one hideaway inhibited by thousands of bats and millions of bedbugs, covered in dust and littered with dead bats." In complete darkness and among the awful smell, hardly breathing, with thick masks covering our noses and mouths, we measured, drew, and photographed with flashlights for several hours. When at last we came out to take a breath of fresh air, we found hundreds of bedbugs in our bag. We ourselves had been badly bitten. Yet the importance and unexpectedness of our find made those the happiest hours of my years hunting for ancient architecture." Liand wrote of the experience in an account included in" Liang and Lin; Partners in Exploring China's Architectual Past."
