A total of 100 Chinese specialists will receive training in cultural heritage protection for the Silk Road over the next five years, thanks to a co-operative project involving China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

The training will focus on ancient building restoration, museum technologies, and protection of earth relics, archaeological sites, pottery, porcelain, metal objects, murals, textiles and paper relics.

To combine theory and field study, it aims to complete the protection of an earth relic and an archaeological site, and the restoration of an old building as well as more than 100 antiques.

Trainees will be chosen out of those working in the frontlines of relics protection in six provinces and autonomous regions along the ancient Silk Road Shaanxi, Henan, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai and Xinjiang.

This year, 27 antique preservers will take the training in earth relics protection and restoration of pottery, porcelain and metal objects.

The special training programme, the first of its kind in China, will be carried out by State-level research institutes of China and Japan, according to the China Cultural Relics Research Institute.

Japan and the Republic of Korea will invest 125 million Japanese yen (US$1.14 million) in the joint training project.

The Silk Road started in the ancient Chinese metropolis of Chang'an, known today as Xi'an, and ended in the eastern bank of the Mediterranean Sea. It traversed about 7,000 kilometres through China and central Asia and became the nexus between different civilizations in ancient Europe and Asia.

More than 1,200 relic sites, mainly grottoes and ancient earth buildings, are dotted along the Silk Road in China, including the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang in Northwest China's Gansu Province.

However, a lot of the cultural heritage sites along the ancient route are under threat of destruction from natural and human factors.

Experts say nearly 90 per cent of the relic sites along the Silk Road have lost their original appearance.

China has strengthened its efforts to protect the Silk Road in recent years.

The State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) has announced that it is joining forces with other countries to lobby the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to include the Silk Road on the World Heritage List.

The joint training project is aimed at upgrading the expertise of the cultural heritage specialists of the Silk Road and giving better protection to the cultural heritage sites along the Silk Road, said Hou Jukun, an official with SACH.

Source: China Daily