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Shan Jixiang: Keeping the Essence of Traditional Architecture

——Written on the occasion of the commencement of the research protection project of Yangxin Hall

Shan Jixiang
08:32, September 21, 2018 | Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition
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Before the start of the repair of the Heart Nourishing Hall, the staff of the Forbidden City removed the cultural relics from the museum.

Oil training: the teacher guides the trainees to use the iron plate correctly.

On December 18, 2015, the "Launching Ceremony of the Research Protection Project of the Heart Nourishing Hall" of the Palace Museum was held in the Palace Museum. It has been two years and eight months since then. It is extremely rare that the commencement ceremony was officially held two years after the start of an ancient building maintenance and protection project. During this period, people from all walks of life pay close attention to what work has been carried out, what efforts have been made, and what achievements have been made for the research protection project of Yangxin Hall.

The maintenance and protection works of the Heart Nourishing Hall may not be a major event in the history of the maintenance and protection of ancient buildings in the Forbidden City. In recent years, the Palace Museum has completed the maintenance and protection works of large-scale ancient buildings in the Forbidden City, such as the Meridian Gate - Yanchi Tower, Taihe Hall, and Cining Palace. In comparison, the scale and volume of the ancient building of the Heart Nourishing Hall is much smaller. However, the maintenance and protection of the Heart Nourishing Hall can also be regarded as a major event in the history of the maintenance and protection of ancient buildings in the Forbidden City, not only because the Heart Nourishing Hall has a special position in history, high popularity and far-reaching influence, but also because the maintenance and protection of the Heart Nourishing Hall was identified as a "research protection project", which is the first time in the history of the maintenance and protection of ancient buildings in the Forbidden City.

In the face of the maintenance and protection of the ancient buildings in the Forbidden City and the inheritance of cultural relic restoration techniques, there are a series of problems such as no successors in the inheritance of traditional construction techniques, the abnormal use of high-quality materials, and the lack of records and research in the maintenance and protection process. In order to save the inheritance of the construction skills of official style ancient buildings and the restoration skills of cultural relics in the Forbidden City, the Palace Museum decided to take the research protection project of the Heart Nourishing Hall as a demonstration project, establish an expert consultation mechanism, scientifically record the status quo of cultural relics and their maintenance and protection in the whole process, break through the restriction of the bidding system of ancient building projects, explore the recruitment system of craftsmen, and realize the whole process of talent training, Establish a team to protect and inherit the ancient buildings of the Palace Museum, provide classic cases for the maintenance and protection of ancient buildings and the restoration and protection of cultural relics, and explore a feasible way for the protection of cultural heritage.

The significance of implementing the "research protection project" of the ancient buildings in the Forbidden City lies in a complete understanding of the value of the ancient buildings in the Forbidden City, taking "value assessment, skill inheritance, talent training, and mechanism innovation" as the core, "preserving the historical information of the ancient buildings to the maximum extent, and not changing the original state of the ancient buildings" as the principle, taking comprehensive records and value research, and cultivating excellent maintenance and protection craftsmen The basic goal is to establish a base of ancient building materials, explore the protection operation mechanism, and achieve overall planning control. Relying on the support of expert system and social forces, we will truly inherit the official style ancient building construction skills, explore a road suitable for the maintenance, protection, and skill inheritance of the ancient buildings in the Forbidden City, and provide a typical example for the protection and research of Chinese cultural relics and buildings.

At the beginning of the initiation of the research protection project of the Heart Nourishing Hall, the Palace Museum organized a research team to conduct systematic excavation and in-depth research on the original display, ancient buildings, historical documents of indoor cultural relics and their preservation environment, and the evolution of protection and management. By giving full play to the unique advantages of numerous experts and scholars in the Palace Museum, at the beginning of 2016, we began to collect research topics on the Heart Nourishing Palace in the form of scientific research projects for all scientific researchers in the Palace Museum, carry out research project applications, organize academic committees to review, determine special topics for the research protection project of the Heart Nourishing Palace, and sign a project establishment agreement. At present, there are 33 special research projects of the Heart Nourishing Hall, involving the rich content of the cultural heritage protection of the Heart Nourishing Hall. The research protection project of the Heart Nourishing Hall will obtain comprehensive research and protection results.

Since the launch of the research protection project of Yangxin Hall, on the basis of formulating a scientific and detailed protection plan and special protection scheme, human and material resources have been concentrated for scientific management and restoration, so as to fully understand and completely continue its value, restore its health, improve the preservation environment of cultural relics, and improve the overall environmental quality of Yangxin Hall. In the whole process of research protection, the maintenance and protection of the Heart Nourishing Hall is treated as scientific research, cultural engineering, and operated as an overall project. With the help of the research protection project of Yangxin Hall, a new way of cultural heritage protection is opened up. Therefore, the research protection project of Yangxin Hall needs to strengthen the research spirit throughout the process. I can summarize it as "eight whole processes", that is, realizing the scientific record of the whole process, realizing the academic research in the whole process, realizing the expert participation in the whole process, realizing the talent cultivation in the whole process, realizing the material guarantee in the whole process, realizing the project management in the whole process, realizing the public participation in the whole process Achieve the achievement demonstration of the whole process.

The research protection project of Yangxin Hall is a new starting point. In terms of the improvement of material quality, the improvement of construction technology, the improvement and deepening of records and research contents, efforts have been made to achieve breakthrough progress, which is expected to solve the system and technical problems in the implementation of the maintenance and protection of the ancient buildings in the Forbidden City. On the basis of solving the problem, the research protection project of the Yangxin Hall will inevitably be promoted by scientific procedures, with the principle of preserving historical information to the maximum extent and not changing the original state of the cultural relics, so that the immovable cultural relics and movable cultural relics of the Yangxin Hall will present the highest level of maintenance, protection and restoration quality, and be presented to the public in a healthy state. As the final work of the 18 year overall maintenance and protection project of the ancient buildings in the Forbidden City, the research protection project of the Heart Nourishing Hall is not only a presentation of high-quality achievements, but also a systematic answer to the deep-seated problem of how to retain the essence of traditional buildings and defend our spiritual home in the context of rapid economic development.

It is hoped that the research protection project of Yangxin Hall can create conditions for the revival of traditional crafts. By establishing a recruitment, assessment and training mechanism for traditional craftsmen, establishing a supply base for ancient building restoration materials, and formulating material performance standards, it will not only benefit the maintenance of ancient buildings and the restoration of cultural relics in various places, More importantly, it plays a vital role in saving the dying traditional building construction and cultural relics restoration skills, opens up new ways for cultural heritage protection, becomes the solution to the key issues of cultural relics protection and management, promotes the transformation of cultural heritage protection mechanism, and promotes the repair of ancient buildings and cultural relics from "rescue protection" to "research protection" And "preventive protection".

It is hoped that the research protection project of Yangxin Hall can become a booster for the progress of the concept of cultural heritage protection. For a long time, due to insufficient exploration of heritage value, insufficient detection analysis and systematic restoration research, the maintenance and restoration of cultural relics has always been at a low level of extensive and rapid. The research protection project of Yangxin Hall, which focuses on systematic value cognition and true restoration, will comprehensively sort out the domestic and foreign cultural heritage protection cases and the requirements of the International Charter, conduct an overall assessment of authenticity, integrity and continuity according to the characteristics of cultural relics, and develop a feasible complete value preservation plan based on the survey and assessment. At the same time, we should strengthen the daily maintenance mechanism of ancient buildings, reduce the proportion of "overhaul", so as to better preserve important historical information in cultural relics, and constantly revise and develop in the daily maintenance practice, so as to promote the level and concept of cultural heritage protection in China and even the world.

(The author is the president of the Palace Museum)

(Editor in charge: Lu Jing, Wang Hejin)

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