The staff is using a colorimeter to measure the color of the paper. Mi Hao/Photographed by Five Directions Buddha and Four Paramitas by Liu Zhilin/Photographed by Liu Zhilin: "It requires good work and painstaking efforts, the hand of mending the sky, the eyes of lice, the spirit

A staff member is using a colorimeter to measure the color of paper. Mi Hao/Photo

The Five Buddhas and the Four Paramitas Liu Zhilin/Photo

“It requires hard work, a hand that mends the sky, an eye that penetrates a louse, a weak spirit and wisdom, and a careful mind. Such as hair, to protect the life of calligraphy and painting..." The field of cultural relic restoration is already a niche, and there are even fewer people engaged in paper restoration work - the paper cultural relic restoration team of the Shaanxi Cultural Relics Protection Research Institute is one of the few in Shaanxi Province One of the largest calligraphy and painting restoration teams. In August 2020, part of the Song, Xia and Jin Dynasty paper cultural relics on the sixth floor of Tower 2 of the Huachi Twin Pagoda Temple that was stolen 20 years ago were seriously damaged. They were carefully sent from Qingyang, Gansu to Shaanxi Province for cultural relics protection. The institute carried out "rescue". After a year of meticulous restoration, these cultural relics were finally brought back to life.

Previous lives: Precious paper cultural relics bear witness to the vicissitudes of history

In the late 1950s, the Shuangta Temple ruins were discovered in Huachi County, Gansu Province. They were named after the two stone statue towers in the ruins. Li Liangdong, a scholar from Longshang in the late Qing Dynasty, once wrote a poem about the twin towers: "The Futu sisters are nestled deep in the mountains, and they are like fairies falling for nine days. The vast forest, sea, green pavilions, and clear water illuminate the beauty." From then on, the reputation of "Sister Towers" spread like wildfire. Walk.

In 2000, a group of thieves stole the eleventh floor of Tower No. 1 from March to May. This incident aroused local attention to the protection of cultural relics, and the investigation and excavation work at the Shuangta Temple ruins has since begun...

During the archaeological excavation of the Shuangta Temple ruins, archaeologists found something inside the sixth floor of Tower No. 2. There are more than 140 cultural relics including Xixia documents, Tubo scriptures, silk packages, Buddhist scriptures and cassocks. The cultural relics that need to be restored are assigned to various cultural relic restoration units.

Due to its outstanding performance in the restoration of paper cultural relics, in August 2020, the Paper Cultural Relics Protection and Restoration Research Center of the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics Protection took over 13 of this batch of damaged cultural relics (22 after restoration) for cultural relics restoration "Rescue" work.

"In addition to ancient Buddhist scriptures in Xixia and Tibetan, there are also precious documents that record the daily life and finances of the temple and can be used as historical data for research." said Ma Linyan, director of the Restoration Department II of the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Research Institute. This batch of paper cultural relics such as Tibetan Bon Narratives, Buddhist scriptures, Xixia documents, statues and paintings, and mandala pictures from the Huachi Twin Pagodas have a long history of more than 1,000 years. They were donated by the donors when the pagodas were built. Placed in the tower for centralized worship.

This life: Going to Shaanxi to seek medical treatment, old paper "resurrected"

The restoration of cultural relics is like opening a blind box. There is no way to know the status and content of the paintings and calligraphy to be restored unless they are opened and restored. When this batch of cultural relics from Huachi Shuangta Temple was delivered, they were tightly wrapped in old paper rolls. After opening, 13 paper cultural relics were found (the actual number of cultural relics was confirmed to be 22 after restoration). These cultural relics were in very poor condition. Most of them were scriptures, scrolls, The prints have fallen into pieces, and paper residue will fall out after a little flipping. As the person in charge of this batch of restoration projects, Tian Peng and a total of 6 team members formulated a plan and began to restore it.

Rescuing "dying" cultural relics is no easy task. The paper cultural relics restoration center divides the restoration steps into thickness detection, paper acidity detection, X-ray fluorescence detection and analysis, removal of floating dust on the surface of the painting core, re-adhesive opening of the painting core, cleaning, decontamination and acid removal, paper removal, splicing, etc. There are 16 steps. Every link cannot be missing, delayed, or wrong. You must be very patient and careful when unmounting, otherwise you may cause damage to the cultural relics and cause accidents if you are not careful. "The restoration steps will be recorded, and each cultural relic has its own protection and restoration log." Teacher Li Hong, one of the restoration members, opened the document to show - these logs clearly record every step of the cultural relics from "terminal illness" to "recovery and discharge" , the state before and after is so different that it is difficult for anyone to connect it with the previous "shreds of paper".

The restoration of cultural relics must follow four principles - "raw materials, original shapes, original craftsmanship, and original methods." Because what restorers want to do is to "cure" old paper and extend the life of cultural relics, not to "interfere" with it and erase the original sense of history of cultural relics. To adhere to the principles of restoration, early detection and analysis of cultural relics is very important. This link can provide a comprehensive understanding of the materials and processes of cultural relics before restoration, paving the way for subsequent scientific restoration and protection."Botanical dyes are often used in ancient Chinese paintings and calligraphy. We also need to boil the leaves, fruits and other parts of the plants into water to make pigments, and match the color of the original paper of the cultural relics to its full color." said restoration staff teacher Chen Xiu, "In During the full-color process of cultural relics, we will first add the background color, and then add the painting's meaning to achieve a harmonious overall vision. However, we will not pick up the missing parts of the cultural relics, especially the unfounded pictures and text, because we need to protect the originality of the cultural relics. "

In the process of restoring cultural relics, it is inevitable to encounter difficulties. The paper cultural relics of Huachi Shuangta Temple faced the challenge of "presenting traditional aesthetics in a contemporary framed form" for the restoration team. "We have never encountered this requirement in previous restorations. The team collected a large number of Song-style mounting forms for reference, and finally chose to mount this batch of Buddhist relics in the form of hand scrolls, and carefully considered the texture, pattern, color matching, etc. of the mounting materials. I did some experiments before it was completed..." Mounting is one of the important processes in restoration. Zhou Jiaxuan, a Ming Dynasty scholar, said, "Every time I see a famous scroll in Song Dynasty, it has paper edges that have not been removed to this day." Good mounting technology will be very important. Greatly extend the preservation time of calligraphy and painting works. Hand scroll mounting is one of the more difficult traditional Chinese mounting forms. In ancient and modern times, famous works, calligraphy and paintings were often framed in this style to show their cherishment. Therefore, how to frame this batch of scriptures that were only single sheets of paper when they were delivered into hand scrolls was completed by the restoration team after careful consideration and a lot of hard work. Teacher Tian Peng picked up a completed Buddhist scripture scroll and placed it on the table. He started reading from the right side and extended his left hand. The inherited mounting technique stretched smoothly, and the scriptures slowly came into view.

The restoration and protection of cultural relics cannot be accomplished overnight, nor can it be done once and for all. Cultural relics protection research institutes everywhere are constantly exploring and improving technology. In order to balance the two demands of "exhibition" and "protection" of paper cultural relics in the later period, Mr. Tian Peng, who is an animation major, proposed and applied the "digital full-color virtual restoration" technology - when there are symmetrical graphics as the basis for the image , used digital painting to restore the incomplete images of two Northern Song Dynasty prints, and used giclée equipment for high-definition printing. After testing, the prints were basically consistent with the originals in terms of graphics, color and other appearance, and were indistinguishable to the naked eye. In this way, when the original cultural relics and the virtual restored prints are displayed together, the audience can not only appreciate the historical appearance of the original cultural relics, but also appreciate the complete artistic effect after the digital connection, achieving the best of both worlds, cultural relic protection and aesthetic presentation.

Value: The story of thousands of years ago is to be continued

Most of the cultural relics in Huachi Shuangta Temple come from the folk. What their "identity" was a thousand years ago remains a mystery for the time being. Now 22 paper cultural relics have been restored, and the paper status and content display have reached a good and complete level. After thousands of years, Buddhist scripture prints have finally regained their "young" appearance.

"This is the God of Revealing, which is a localized deity derived from the Dharani secret mantra "Spell of Revealing" at the end of the Buddhist classic "Heart Sutra". It often appears in mythological literature of the Ming and Qing Dynasties such as "Journey to the West" and "The Legend of the White Snake". . But the image of this deity engraved in the illustrations of the Heart Sutra is the only one in China that I can see.” According to Tian Peng’s preliminary research, the engravings at the end of the Heart Sutra record Buddhist miraculous stories. "The White Dragon Temple Efficacy" - It is said that during the Dali period of the Tang Dynasty, a white snake demon was doing evil in the White Dragon Temple, and the surrounding villages could only sacrifice boys and girls to temporarily eliminate the disaster. A twelve-year-old child named Chun Niang was tied to the pillar in front of the temple, waiting to be sacrificed. When she was crying out of fear, an old man suddenly appeared. Seeing this, the old man asked Chun Niang to recite the Revealing Mantra with him. After that, he turned into the Revealing God and subdued the white snake demon, and the village returned to normal life. This shows that through the promotion of efficacious stories, the God of Enlightenment has the function of evading disasters, rescuing people from distress, and helping those in need. Its ultimate goal is to spread Buddhism’s teachings and attract believers. "There is another "Heart Sutra". The title of "Gyeongju Daesun City" appears in the end of the volume. Looking further down, there are some fragments such as "Jinwu" "Commander" and "Second City Level Li Zheng". The handwriting indicates that the publisher of the sutra was a Forbidden Army officer stationed in Dashun City, which provided first-hand information on the garrison of Dashun City during the Song-Xia War and the study of the military system of the Northern Song Dynasty."A volume of Buddhist scriptures paid for and printed by frontier fortress officers was placed in a pagoda built by the Jin people after the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty. The story that happened during the period is intriguing.

"Because this batch of cultural relics truly reflects the prosperity of Buddhism in Huachi during the Song, Xia and Jin dynasties. and spread, which reflects the widespread introduction and in-depth absorption of advanced culture by the northern ethnic minorities, including the Buddhist culture of the Central Plains. It is also the best testimony that the exquisite skills of ancient skilled craftsmen have been passed down through the ages. Therefore, it not only has cultural relic and archaeological value, but also has extremely high historical value. "Ma Linyan, Director of the Restoration Department of the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Research Institute, said. The value of the Song Dynasty cultural relics discovered in Huachi Shuangta Temple needs to be further explored, and more exploration is needed for the stories behind the cultural relics.

Culture and Art News Full Media Reporter Liu Zhilin

Editor: Gao Sijia