The cultural relics protection team of Dunhuang Research Institute is collecting data. Photograph provided by respondents
According to the Book of the Han Dynasty, "Dunhuang is a big city. Huanghuang is a prosperous city." Over the millennia, Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, with their incomparable murals and painted sculptures, have lived up to their historical reputation of "grand glory".
But if we say that Dunhuang is also a "palace of science and technology", people may be puzzled.
In January this year, the "National Engineer Award" commendation conference was held in the Great Hall of the People, and the cultural relics protection team of Dunhuang Research Institute stepped on the podium, becoming one of the 50 teams that won the title of the first "National Outstanding Engineer Team".
They show the world that behind the protection of human cultural heritage, China has a scientific and technological force standing at the forefront of the world. For 80 years, generations of Mogao Grottoes people such as Chang Shuhong, Duan Wenjie, Fan Jinshi, Sun Ruxuan, Li Zuixiong, Li Yunhe, Wang Xudong and Su Bomin have adhered to the desert and contributed "Dunhuang experience" to the protection of human cultural heritage.
"Writing" Chemical Equations in Mysterious Caves
"What can a science student majoring in chemistry do when he goes to the cave?" In 1992, Su Bomin, who graduated from the chemistry department of Lanzhou University, was engaged in geological and mineral analysis in Gansu Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. As soon as he made a breakthrough in his profession, he received an order that he be "dug" to the Dunhuang Research Institute.
Every painted sculpture and mural here has endless history and stories. The young Su Bomin was deeply shocked.
There are 735 caves, 45000 square meters of murals and more than 2000 painted sculptures in the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang. It is the longest existing, most complete and largest grotto art group in the world.
It owns many of the world's best, and also faces many world-class problems, of which crisp soda is one. This is a kind of "incurable disease" that makes fine murals turn into powder little by little in the long river of time.
In the process of repairing Cave 85, Su Bomin and his colleagues tried 81 formulas together for 7 years, and finally found a method that can both desalt and maintain the original appearance of the murals, becoming a classic case of human mural protection.
In May 2006, the 9th China Youth Science and Technology Award was announced, and Su Bomin, as the only young scientific and technological worker in the national cultural and museum system, stepped on the podium.
During that time, Su Bomin presided over and participated in more than 10 mural research projects and mural protection projects, among which "Research on Infiltration and Reinforcement of Earth Buildings with PS" and other projects have had an important impact on the cause of cultural relics protection.
After more than 30 years of exploration, the Dunhuang Research Institute has gathered cultural relics protection scientific and technological talents in chemistry, physics, biology, environment and other disciplines. It has the largest cultural relics protection scientific research team in China. Su Bomin, who "wrote" chemical equations in mysterious caves, has also become the director of the Dunhuang Research Institute.
In recent years, this team has not only overcome the restoration problems of ancient murals such as nail stickers, crisp alkali desalination, hollow grouting, and other "bottleneck" constraints such as structural instability, surface degradation and reinforcement of soil sites in arid environments, but also promoted China's grotto protection technology to enter the forefront of the world.
Scientific skills hidden in murals
"After entering the cave, not only every move will be recorded by the camera, but even the breath will be strictly monitored..." In Dunhuang, a reminder from the guide made the tourists feel calm.
This is by no means alarmist. Behind it lies the profound scientific skills of the cultural relics protection team of the Dunhuang Research Institute in cave monitoring, environmental simulation, and the prevention and control of cultural relics, pests, birds, and microbial diseases.
"At present, the tourist carrying capacity of Mogao Grottoes cannot exceed 6000 normal tickets and 12000 emergency tickets in peak season. This data basis for decision-making is obtained through the monitoring of the changes in the micro environment in the caves and the comprehensive analysis of factors such as the setting of tourist visiting routes." Wang Xiaowei is the director of the Cave Monitoring Center of Dunhuang Research Institute, The 26 person team led by him is not only responsible for the monitoring of Mogao Grottoes, but also completed the construction of the monitoring and early warning system (phase I) project of Grottoes Temple in Gansu Province by the end of 2023.
Today, six grottoes in Gansu Province, including Mogao Grottoes, Yulin Grottoes, West Thousand Buddha Cave, Maiji Mountain, Bingling Temple and North Grottoes Temple, are all included in the platform, and the grottoes with a length of more than 1000 kilometers have achieved the goal of real-time monitoring of major risks.
Tamping earth is the most widely used construction technology in China for thousands of years, and it is also an important cultural relic resource of mankind.
In the 1990s, the cultural relics protection team of Dunhuang Research Institute began to study the disease mechanism and protection technology of earthen sites. Today, the Dunhuang Research Institute's multi field coupled environmental simulation laboratory, which took more than 10 years to build, is the first large-scale all-weather simulation platform in the field of cultural heritage in China. By loading the environmental parameters of the site preservation, the laboratory carried out simulation tests on the samples of grotto temples and earthen sites weighing several tons, providing technical support for the protection of different types of sites.
The "scientific code" is also hidden in the biological laboratory of the Dunhuang Research Institute.
"Our daily work is dealing with cultural relics, insect pests, bird pests, and microbial diseases." Behind researcher Wu Fasi, there are advanced equipment such as microbial incubators, fluorescent microscopes, and ultra-low temperature refrigerators. Wu Fasihe's team also undertakes scientific research projects such as the prevention and control of squirrel damage in Maijishan Grottoes, monitoring and prevention of bird damage in Bingling Temple Grottoes, and research on biological weathering mechanism in North Grottoes Temple.
Those "great country craftsmen" facing the wall
Advanced technology can not be separated from excellent craftsmen.
Li Yunhe, an 86 year old restorer from the Dunhuang Research Institute, waved his arms to the podium at the award ceremony of the "Person of the Year of the Great Power Craftsman" in 2018, and immediately became the focus of attention.
Since he came to Dunhuang in 1956, Li Yunhe has repaired cultural relics for 65 years, handled more than 500 colored sculptures and 4000 square meters of murals.
In the 1950s, mural restoration was still an uninvolved work, which was almost unknown in China. At that time, the foreign experts invited were not only arrogant, but also "unconvinced" in technology.
Young Li Yunhe repeatedly tested various tools and materials, including abandoned syringes in the infirmary, air bags of blood pressure meters, and textiles in the mounting room. He also carefully studied various mineral pigments, cotton, hemp and other auxiliary materials on the murals.
From repairing nail size to finishing the whole wall. After more than 10 years of exploration and more than 700 days, the 161 grottoes, which are on the verge of destruction, finally came back from the dead. This is not only the first cave independently repaired by the Dunhuang Research Institute, but also a new starting point for the restoration and protection of Chinese murals.
Today, Li Yunhe has become the first person in China to successfully uncover and restore large-scale murals in situ as a whole, the first person in China to successfully restore and protect murals with metal skeletons, and the first person in China to successfully relocate and restore grottoes in different places as a whole. He is known as the "great master" of repairing world cultural heritage.
Later, Li Bo, his son, took over Li Yunhe's mantle. This pair of "father and son craftsmen" also became a legend in the field of mural painting and painted sculpture restoration.
Since 1990, Li Bo has been engaged in the protection and restoration of ancient murals and painted sculptures with his father. Over 30 years, it has protected and restored more than 2000 square meters of ancient murals, more than 150 painted sculptures, and trained more than 200 mural restoration technicians for local cultural and museum units.
In 2022, Li Bo won the first prize in the National Professional Skills Competition for Cultural Relics Industry (mural color sculpture category). The next year, he was rated as a national technical expert.
Fan Zaixian is another mural restoration master of the Dunhuang Academy. Since 1981, he has followed Li Yunhe and other experts to repair murals.
In 2011, when WeChat just came into being, Fan Zaixian casually wrote the name of WeChat - "30 years of facing the wall"; Now 10 years have passed, and he has been "facing the wall" in Dunhuang for 43 years.
"Facing the wall" not only tests people's patience and perseverance, but also requires multidisciplinary comprehensive literacy. "The restorer should have the basis of anatomy, texture and skeleton, psychology and other disciplines. He should discover the true appearance of the sculpture at that time, and then slowly repair the old as the old, restore the original appearance of history..." Fan Zaixian said.
Every "facing the wall" is a tacit dialogue with history and a close embrace of civilization exchange and cultural inheritance.
Once, Dunhuang was the place where the four major civilizations of mankind met. Over the millennia, today's cultural relics protection team of the Dunhuang Research Institute continues to illuminate the future millennium of Dunhuang with science and technology at the intersection of history and the future.
