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Repairer Breathes New Life into Damaged Ancient BooksMay 16, 2023Around 300 years ago, Chinese doctor You Yi finished his book, "Annotations to Medical Classics." Lately, Wang Bin, a repairer of ancient books from the Liaoning Provincial Library, located in Shenyang City, northeast China's Liaoning Province, has been repairing the same book which suffers from mildew and other forms of damage.
"Repairing ancient books is like treating patients. There are rules to follow and the repairers must be sensitive and careful during the process. For instance, this character 'Yang' on this page of the book has gone moldy. If the mold is not removed, it will affect the neighboring pages," Wang explained.
The Liaoning Provincial Library preserves 610,000 copies of ancient books, including nearly 100 belonging to the Song Dynasty (960-1279) to the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). The books suffer from different forms of damage and are in urgent need of restoration. "Based on what we can currently devote to the restoration project, we estimate that it may take nearly 1,000 years to restore all books kept here," the library noted at its exhibition booth of damaged ancient books.
"It takes about a month to restore 'Annotations to Medical Classics,'" said Wang. Over the past 14 years, Wang has repaired more than 1,000 ancient books. Wang said by restoring the book, she has come to know about the life of the ancient doctor.
Thanks to years of efforts, Wang is now an experienced repairer and has taught her skills to other people. Every week, she gives classes to students majoring in cultural relics protection at the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts in Shenyang City, to attract more young people to the profession and join her effort to carry forward the craft.
"Repairing ancient books can help extend the lifespan of the books. I'm able to find value in my life if I can do this job well," Wang said.
(Source: People's Daily Online) 32.3KPlease understand that womenofchina.cn,a non-profit, information-communication website, cannot reach every writer before using articles and images. For copyright issues, please contact us by emailing: [email protected]. The articles published and opinions expressed on this website represent the opinions of writers and are not necessarily shared by womenofchina.cn. CommentsMagazinesProjects
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