China protects cultural heritage with digitalization

China has put a lot of effort into protecting its cultural heritage with the help of multiple forms of high technology.

The 'digital Dunhuang project'

The Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, a 1,600-year-old UNESCO World Heritage site, are located in the Gobi Desert in Dunhuang City, northwest China's Gansu Province. They are home to a vast collection of Buddhist artworks carved into the cliffs.

Researchers for decades have tried to find ways to protect it from damage caused by natural or human factors. The Dunhuang Academy started its digitization project in the 1990s to create digital versions of the Mogao Grottoes and other grotto temples and has accumulated massive digital cultural resources.

With digital technology, murals, grottoes, painted sculptures and other splendid cultural heritage items have been reproduced and thus are able to be shared with the world.

The Chinese language version of the online resource database Digital Dunhuang went online on May 1, 2016, providing high-resolution digital resources and virtual tours of 30 Dunhuang caves. 

Its English version became available in September 2017, and has been accessed by users in 78 countries, including the United States, Japan, Canada and Australia by July 2022, according to a report by People's Daily, adding that the digital database has received more than 15.6 million views worldwide.

A cultural heritage digital platform supported by blockchain technology was also launched in December 2022, sharing digital renderings of 6,500 pieces of high-definition materials with people around the world.

The Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang City, northwest China's Gansu province, November 3, 2021. /CFP

The use of multi-field coupling lab and international cooperation

China's first multi-field coupling lab on murals and ancient ruins protection, which was put into use by the end of 2020, has launched international collaborative research, according to the academy. 

The academy said that an international synchronous field trial is being carried out in cooperation with experimental bases at the University of Oxford and China's Northwest University.

Located in the city of Dunhuang, the lab covers an area of 16,000 square meters. It can simultaneously simulate various conditions that murals and ancient ruins are exposed to in order to collect direct data for future research, according to Guo Qinglin, director of the academy's protection and research institute.

The lab mainly consists of three lab cabins that enable weather simulations throughout the year, such as windy, snowy and rainy days.

It can also simulate temperatures ranging from minus 30 to 60 degrees Celsius and relative humidity ranging from 10 to 90 percent.

With a controlled environment to its merit, the lab will play an important role in cultural heritage protection across the country, according to the academy.

Information center of the Xi'an city wall to monitor the condition of the wall in real time. /China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism

Daily monitoring

The protection and revival of Dunhuang's ancient culture is not an isolated case in China.

The ancient city wall in Xi'an City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, has more than 1,400 years of history. By applying the Internet of Things, big data and cloud computing, a lot of effort has been made to protect the cultural relic.

According to the country's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 3,090 monitoring points have been set up on the city wall to monitor its condition in real time in case of deformation. Further monitoring, such as passenger flow and moat water level, has also been achieved.

"We use both dynamic and static load monitoring to calculate the maximum bearing capacity that the wall can bear. In addition, we monitor passenger flow, thus to minimize the impact of tourism activities on cultural relics," said Xie Zhiyuan, a staff member at the Cultural Protection and Tourism Department of the Xi'an City Wall Administrative Committee.

In addition, 25 digital collections were launched with blockchain technology to explore the digital mode of cultural heritage.

(With input from Xinhua)