China News Agency, Hong Kong, August 18th: Restoring cultural relics, "royal cats" - Hong Kong "reserve" history teachers' internship trip to the Forbidden City

  China News Agency reporter Han Xingtong

  "Visit the Forbidden City, Taste China" Beijing-Hong Kong Palace Museum Cultural Exchange and "Wandering Literature and Art" Internship Program Exchange and Sharing Session was recently held at the Hong Kong Palace Museum.

Two students who participated in the internship at the Palace Museum in 2019 and this year received an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Agency before the sharing session and reviewed the internship journey that has benefited them a lot.

Data map: The Palace Museum.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Hou Yu

  Coincidentally, both of them are students majoring in Chinese history education at the Education University of Hong Kong, and are about to become teachers. Therefore, in addition to enriching their personal experience, they also consciously have an additional responsibility to pass on the culture of the Forbidden City and Chinese civilization to the next generation. .

  Liu Jianyu is a senior brother and wears a pair of glasses.

He still remembers the first day of his registration at the Palace Museum in 2019.

It was closed on Monday, and the huge Forbidden City was empty. He entered through the Shenwu Gate, as if passing through the changing circumstances of history, along the long palace wall, and came to the Forbidden City library located in the Shou'an Palace. This is him. Internship place, responsible for data management and electronic archiving.

  During the 6 weeks of the internship, this was the only way for him to go every day. In his words, he immersed himself in the historical changes and the accumulation of traditional culture.

In the rare and quiet Forbidden City, Liu Jianyu stared at the red walls and yellow tiles, carved railings and jade, and his thoughts drifted far away, including the cultural significance of the Forbidden City.

  During the internship, in addition to reading a lot of literature, Liu Jianyu also made a flyer out of interest, "similar to a floor plan of the Forbidden City", marked the central axis of the Forbidden City, drawn the palaces on both sides, marked the name, ancient functions, and can be visited now. Highlights, etc., "I want to use it as a material to promote the Forbidden City when I return to Hong Kong."

  He always kept in mind the mission of inheriting the culture of the Forbidden City. After returning to Hong Kong, he not only introduced the internship program to the school’s juniors and juniors, and encouraged them to participate; when the Hong Kong Palace Museum was officially opened to the public, he volunteered to sign up as a volunteer, responsible for Reception, etc.

In Liu Jianyu's view, the Hong Kong Palace Museum is a good platform to showcase Chinese culture to the outside world.

  These are all due to his cherishing of that internship experience. Liu Jianyu often misses the lunch break in the Forbidden City, running to the palace wall with the interns to eat the "royal cat", eating mutton skewers in the canteen of the Forbidden City, and getting off work in the setting sun at night The next day of riding a bike home.

  Xu Haonan is a "newcomer" who joined the project this year and was assigned to the Ministry of Culture, Protection and Science and Technology.

Due to the restrictions of the epidemic, I can only complete the internship online, which is a bit regrettable, but the novelty and challenge of the work is enough to make up for it - following the teacher to restore the cultural relics, "I participated in the restoration of a thangka called "Guru Padmasambhava".

  Thangka is a unique art work in Tibet, which can be made by various artistic techniques such as color painting, embroidery, and piling.

  Xu Haonan practiced the restoration of the insect pest map. "I need to use various symbols to mark various existing damages, such as insect damage, collapse, stains, water stains, etc.".

He admitted that he had insufficient knowledge in relevant areas and was unable to distinguish between stains and water stains at the beginning. He was very frustrated for a time. "But the two instructors taught me a lot, including professional knowledge and practical problems."

In the end, it took him nearly half a month to complete the restoration work.

  Recalling the original intention of participating in this internship program, Xu Haonan said, on the one hand, it was out of interest in Chinese history and culture and fulfilling his childhood dream; on the other hand, he was about to become a Chinese history teacher, "I hope this internship It can lay a solid foundation for my future work. For example, I can apply the knowledge of cultural relic restoration in this internship to teaching, and better help primary and secondary school students in Hong Kong to understand the motherland and traditional culture through cultural relics.”

(Finish)