An hour before the Forbidden City opened to visitors one recent morning, the stone courtyard just south of the ancient imperial palace was abuzz. Within the vermilion walls, the usual mix of uniformed palace workers, tour guides and tourists milled about beneath a pale blue sky. Loudspeakers blared a recording¹ about ticketing policies.

前不久的一个早晨，在故宫开门前一小时，这座古老宫廷南侧的一个红墙石头庭院里已经人声鼎沸。穿制服的故宫工作人员、导游和游客们在淡蓝色的天空下挤来挤去。扬声器里响亮地传出关于售票规定的录音。

But at the center of it all was an atypical sight: a phalanx of more than 1,000 people, flanked by palace workers whose job was to keep the ranks in line. Unlike most visitors, this small army had come with only one goal: to see "Along the River During the Qingming Festival," an early 12th-century painted scroll² considered so iconic that it is often called "China's Mona Lisa."

不过，人群中央的情景不同寻常：那是一个由1000多人组成的方阵，方阵两侧是故宫的工作人员，他们的任务是督促人们保持队形。不像大部分游客，这一小队人来这里只有一个目标：观看《清明上河图》。这幅创作于12世纪初的画轴极具代表性，被称为中国的《蒙娜丽莎》。

Since an exhibition celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Palace Museum opened in early September, people have been waiting for up to 10 hours to see this 17-foot-long masterpiece attributed to the painter Zhang Zeduan, an intricate ink-on-silk tableau³ of life in the Northern Song dynasty capital, Kaifeng. The best-known painting in the museum's vast collection, it has been shown in public only a few times, in Beijing most recently in 2005 for the museum's 80th anniversary.

从9月初故宫博物院开始举办这场庆祝成立90周年的展览时起，人们就等待长达十个小时观看张择端的这幅长17英尺（约5.28米）的绘画杰作。这幅绢本设色画轴复杂精细，生动描绘了北宋都城开封的生活。它是故宫博物院众多藏品中最著名的一幅画，仅公开展示过几次，最近一次在北京展出是2005年该博物院成立80周年之时。

The fanatical interest in the work coincides with a concerted push by the Chinese government to encourage interest in traditional culture and values, as a way of emphasizing its links to a history that goes back thousands of years.

人们对这件作品产生狂热兴趣之时，正是中国政府部门协力激发人们对传统文化和价值观的兴趣之际。后者的目的在于突显中国几千年的历史。

And the crowds lining⁴ up have been widely covered both in the news media and on social media, particularly after photos began circulating of people frantically⁵ racing⁶ from the Meridian⁷ Gate entrance of the palace toward the exhibition hall. (Chinese news outlets⁸ were quick to label the phenomenon⁹ the gugong pao, or "Imperial Palace run.")

新闻和社交媒体纷纷报道人们争相排队参观的事，特别是在观众从午门狂奔至展厅的照片在网上传开之后（中国媒体很快称之为"故宫跑"）。

"There's been so much hype about this painting, so I decided¹⁰ to come early to check it out myself," said Jacqueline Zhang, 25, who works at a bank in Beijing and came at 5 a.m. to secure a place at the head of the line. She added, "This just shows how easily excited Chinese people can get."

"这幅画被炒得很热，所以我决定早点过来，亲眼看看，"25岁的杰奎琳·张(Jacqueline Zhang)说。她在北京的一家银行工作，为了能排在队伍前面，她早上5点就来了。她补充说："这表明，中国人多么容易激动。"

Past exhibitions of the scroll have attracted huge crowds, but the heightened fervor¹¹ these days comes as the term "wenhua," or culture, and the desire to appear cultured have become increasingly prominent in China.

这幅画轴过去展览时也吸引了很多观众，但是如今的狂热是因为中国人越来越想有文化或者显得有文化。

"Now that people have money and social status, they want to show other people that they understand culture," said Chen Yimo, an expert in Chinese calligraphy¹² and painting.

"人们有钱有地位了，就想向别人表明自己懂文化，"中国书画家陈一墨说。

"Chinese people have a lot of respect for the term 'culture.' No matter how much money you have, if you don't have culture, then you're just a tuhao," said Mr. Chen, using a popular term for the crass¹³ nouveaux riches.

"中国人十分尊重文化。不管你多有钱，要是没文化，你就只是个土豪，"陈一墨说。