Minecraft Gods Create Incredible Asian-Inspired Heaven on Earth

Today we're showing off one of the most ambitious Minecraft builds ever attempted. A French team of Minecraft builders known as NewHeaven, with experienced crafters from all over the world, has finally completed their work on an Asian inspired masterpiece called Xin Tiantang. Check it out in the breathtaking trailer above.

The name Xin Tiantang means "New Heaven" in Chinese, and as you can see, that's exactly what NewHeaven was trying to create. It's a vast, Asian-inspired utopia filled with everything you'd imagine an emerald paradise to contain. Sprawling greenery, cherry blossom trees, ornate statues and sculptures, towering buildings with jade roofing... It was all painstakingly constructed cube by cube.

So what was the inspiration behind this Asian heaven on earth?

"[It] may sound cheesy at first, although it emphasizes on the fact that what we created is perhaps a reality that is too good to exist, a 'new heaven' if you wish," NewHeaven told Minecraft.net. "Asian architecture has always been widely popular and liked by most people – we were no exception," says NewHeaven. "Some members in our team use it almost all the time. Xin Tiantang was a way for us to freely express our love towards this style. [It] was essentially a large canvas and everyone in the team was able to take part in its creation."

Xin Tiantang blossoms across a massive 2500x2500 map, and was constructed by more than 20 people. Minecraft.net's report indicates that, despite the scale and the intensity of the project, NewHeaven adopted a open approach to include as many people as possible. Considering that everything from the terraforming to the smokestacks needed to be hand-crafted, it's amazing that even 20 people could accomplish this within the span of a year. Actually, the project took much longer than that.

"[It] was actually started almost two years ago," NewHeaven explained. "What takes a bit of time is initially figuring out what style we will be doing and making the terrain. Once that is done, we do lots of testing on the side and like to assign certain areas to people that ask for them. Finally, when everything is in order, we start to properly build the map, which can take up to a year in this case. When we get close to the end, we like to have cinematics done on the map and above all timelapses."

It just goes to show what you can accomplish with a team of creative people, a love for creating, and no deadlines. NewHeaven has already started work on its next project, and when it's revealed, you'll see it right here!

(source)