Huge amount of ancient Chinese books demanding reparation

16,000 volumes of "Dunhuang surviving works" collected in National Library of China are in great need of immediate reparation, the 5,000 metres long ancient text in particular. The total amount of ancient documents in various libraries and museums across the country stands at 300 million, most of which are serious damaged, demanding immediate and effective reparation. However, the special personnel qualified for the reparation of ancient documents in National Library of China are less than 10 and those less than 100 nationwide. It would take those special personnel hundreds of years to repair these broken ancient documents if no manpower and material resources were invested.

According to an article carried on Wenhuibao, these disparate data were released by National Library of China on the occasion of "Rare Book Restoration Exhibition". Zhang Zhiqing and Chen Hongyan, directors of Rare Book Section under National Library of China, noted that all the surviving ancient books suffered from erosions of time to varying degrees. Having gone through all kinds of hardships, Zhao Cheng Golden Collection, a Buddhist scripture printed in Kin Dynasty, was transported to capital city of Beijing on the occasion of the founding of new China in 1949. However, more than half of the scripture were rotten and broken and the reparation work lasted for 17 years. Although the project of reparation for "Dunhuang Surviving Books" was started in 1990, only half of the reparation work has been finished in the past 15 years.

In the past 50-plus years since the founding of PRC, workers with National Library of China have repaired more than 60,000 rare ancient documents, especially Zhao Chen Golden Collection, Yongle Canon, "Dunhuang Surviving Book" as well as "Western Xia Documents". However, section for reparation of ancient books under National Library of China is under-staffed, ten workers responsible for the reparation of more than 1 million ancient books, that is to say, one worker averagely has to bear the heavy responsibility of repairing 100,000 ancient books.

By People's Daily Online