Reviving Old Texts

Whenever Song Jing visits a museum，she makes a point of checking out the section on ancient books.In addition to appreciating the wisdom hidden in these historical volumes，she also focuses on how they are bound and pre­sented.

“It's more like a force of habit caused by my job，” said Song.This 34- year- old “book doctor”has been working in the restoration di­vision for ancient books at the National Library of China in Beijing for eight years.

Song made her way to the ancient books division after finishing her cultural relic protec­tion studies course at Peking University in 2015.She has since been engaged in restoring more than 100 ancient cultural relics.At the mo­ment，Song and her colleagues are working on restoring a copy of Yongle Dadian，an encyclo­pedia created in 1408 that was commissioned by Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty （1368 — 1644）.

After receiving the challenge at the begin­ning of 2022，it took Song and her colleagues six months to research and decide on how to re­store the books.“Most books from Yongle Da- dian that have survived until today have suf- fered damage to their original binding，” Song said.

“To restore them to their original form，we need to gather information from various sourc­es，such as images and texts，before we can make sure their original binding style and re­pair them accordingly，” she explained.More­over，the ancient encyclopedia's silk texture and color have both grown inconsistent，which makes creating the necessary raw materials and matching the color difficult.

In the past，restorers had to rely on their experience to determine the appropriate materi­als to use for a project.As technology has evolved，they are able to use a new method to finish the task through microscopes.However，technology can only help so much，as ancient­book restoration still requires essential manual skills，including cutting and brushing paper and binding.

Apart from this，the restoration also re­quires strong control when brushing the paper. “If the pressure is not properly controlled dur­ing the brushing process，the paper may tear，but if the touch is too light，the paper won' t ad­here，” Song explained.

Owing to the meaningful and complex pro­cess，the ancient books restoration technique of the national library was listed as a national-lev­el intangible cultural heritage in 2008.

“Hopefully，I can be of some help in in­spiring more young people to find their lifelong passion in the field of cultural heritage preserva­tion，”said Song.

每当宋晶参观博物馆时，她都会特意去查看有关古籍的部分。（剩余692字）