On a spring morning nearly 900 years ago, a wooden cargo boat drifts a little too fast toward a great arched bridge. Its mast is still raised. Boatmen heave on poles and ropes, a crewman flings a line toward the crowd, and dozens of onlookers lean over the railings, shouting and pointing. For one heartbeat, everything hangs in the balance. That heartbeat has never ended. It survives in “Along the River During the Qingming Festival” (清明上河图, Qīngmíng Shànghé Tú), a handscroll barely 10 inches tall and almost 6 yards long that the Chinese have long called their Mona Lisa. Painted by the Song Dynasty master Zhang Zeduan, it is at once a work of art, a time machine, and a quiet riddle. Unroll it slowly, the way it was meant to be seen, and a whole medieval city wakes up around you. In this guide, we will walk that city street by street, meet its 814 inhabitants, cross its famous bridge, and uncover the warning that many believe the artist tucked inside all this bustling prosperity.

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