Zang Jun delivers a class on the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) classic Pictures of Tilling and Weaving (or the Gengzhi Tu) to students. [Photo/tidenews.com.cn]

More than 80,000 teachers and students from Hangzhou city — capital of  East China's Zhejiang province and from Northwest China's Qinghai province and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region — joined a mass online lesson recently.

They did so to explore the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) classic Pictures of Tilling and Weaving, known in Chinese as the Gengzhi Tu.

The lecture was delivered by Zang Jun, vice-chairman of the Zhejiang Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

Created in Lin'an district of Hangzhou by local official Lou Shu (1090–1162) some 800 years ago, the 45 magnificent illustrations vividly depict farming and silk weaving, each paired with poems.

Known as the world's first illustrated agricultural science book, the work astonished many students who saw its detailed scenes for the first time.

Zang also traced the artwork's global influence, noting how motifs from the classic work spread to Japan's folding screens and Italy's ceramics, making it an early and powerful example of Chinese culture going global.

The lesson marked the launch of the Tianmu Youth Civic Education Project in Lin'an district of Hangzhou. It will further promote cultural heritage through study tours, school sericulture labs and creative adaptations such as short videos and animations to keep the centuries-old wisdom alive for new generations.

A student asks Zang about the painting. [Photo/tidenews.com.cn]