Chinanews.com, Lanzhou, August 29 (Reporter Yin Chunyong Wang Muyu) Early in the morning, deep in the desolate and lonely Gobi, Du Jianjun got up and walked along the river in front of Yulin Grotto toward the millennium caves to patrol around, and began his day's work, like He repeated this morning for 30 years, although he had two opportunities to leave this remote place during the period, he finally stood by.
As the "sister cave" of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, Yulin Grottoes are far more remote than Mogao Grottoes. Driving south from Guazhou County, Jiuquan City, all the way through the desert and Gobi. It is sparsely populated. It takes an hour to reach Yulin. cave.
Du Jianjun, 47, is the deputy director of the Yulin Cave Cultural Relics Institute under the jurisdiction of the Dunhuang Academy.
There are 43 caves in Yulin Grottoes, with more than 5,200 square meters of murals and more than 270 colored sculptures.
She is an important part of the Dunhuang grotto art treasure house, and preserves the information of the integration of Chinese and Western cultures and ethnic cultures on the Silk Road.
In the winter of 2003, in order to prevent ice blasts from endangering the safety of cultural relics, Du Jianjun participated in the cleaning of icy slopes in the Yulin River.
(Information photo) Photo courtesy of Dunhuang Academy
Become a caveman in the desert
Du Jianjun, born in Ganjiabao Village, Mogao Town, Dunhuang City, decided to seek a living and employment after failing the college entrance examination.
In 1991, under the recommendation of his father's friend, he heard that Mogao Grottoes "needs someone", so he decided to "try it."
In early 1992, Du Jianjun was sent to Yulin Grottoes.
"In 1961, the Yulin Grottoes were listed as one of the first batch of key cultural relics protection units in the country. However, the conditions in the Yulin Grottoes in the 1990s were very difficult. At that time, there were only four staff members who were doing simple cave guard and protection work. "Recently, Du Jianjun recalled the 30 years of "guarding the cave" in an interview with reporters from China News Service and China News Service.
"When I get up every morning, I take a bunch of keys and lead a police dog to patrol the caves one by one to check whether the door is damaged or not, because every cave was installed with a wooden door at the time, and there have been attempts to steal cultural relics. Our colleague found that the door lock of the cave had been sawed in half during the patrol," he said.
The Yulin Grotto in the desert Gobi is also very inconvenient to communicate with the outside world. Once, because of "lost contact" with the outside world, the five people in the cave area had no living supplies for more than half a month, so they went to the nearby mountains to dig alfalfa and other wild vegetables. After eating for nearly twenty days.
"I think my eyes are going to be green." Du Jianjun recalled.
The picture shows Du Jianjun downloading temperature and humidity data in the cave in 2004.
(Information photo) Photo courtesy of Dunhuang Academy
There are two chances to leave: go and return, can’t let go
Du Jianjun described the Yulin Grottoes at that time as a "vacuum" world.
"I don't like the noisy city very much. I think it's very easy to do the work of guarding the cave quietly, but after just three months, I started to be anxious." Du Jianjun said, not seeing anyone for a long time, this environment makes a young man People feel withdrawn.
By a coincidence, Du Jianjun's parents asked a friend to introduce a job in the urban area of Dunhuang.
After working for a week, he told the other party that he would go back to Yulin Grottoes, so he brought back the blanket rolls, but he returned to Yulin Grottoes and never went back.
After returning to Dunhuang three and a half months later, facing the friend whose appointment was missed, he could not give a reason to explain all this.
In this way, another 11 years passed. With the implementation of the rescue protection project of the cliff body in Yulin Grottoes in 1993, Du Jianjun also invested in the rescue protection project of the cliff body and began to follow the teachers from Mogao Grottoes. Study, work content from simple cave maintenance to cave mural restoration, cave micro-environment monitoring and other business development.
At that time, Du Jianjun had already married and had children.
The long-term separation of his parents and children made Du Jianjun indescribably owed to his family.
While chatting with a friend, he encountered another opportunity to work in the county seat. After weighing the balance, he agreed, but on the day when he agreed to go to work in the county seat, he still returned to Yulin Grottoes.
This time, when faced with a friend’s question, he had the answer in his heart. He said: “When I think about leaving Yulin Grotto, I really feel like leaving my relatives. There is an invisible force holding me back. I know I am holding a responsibility to protect a treasure cave, and I also know that my career is in Yulin Cave. It was also the decision that made me think clearly that I have fallen in love with Yulin Cave and cannot do without."
The picture shows Du Jianjun working in the cave in 2005.
(Information photo) Photo courtesy of Dunhuang Academy
Growing up with Yulin Grotto: Bringing equipment and technology back
In 1999, the various business work of Yulin Grottoes gradually moved forward, and the staff also expanded to more than a dozen people.
Although Du Jianjun, who only has a college degree, is very eager to learn and love to think about things. He inspects and monitors the cave's murals, environment and facilities all the year round. He feels that the microenvironment of the cave is abnormal, the ventilation in the cave is not smooth, and some of the rock layers in the cave have fallen off. Phenomenon, rock layer seepage water has signs of spreading to the surrounding, these phenomena will be formed into a special report and submitted to the superior.
After investigating the status quo of the cave diseases, it was found that the microenvironment in the cave had changed and the doors and windows needed to be improved. In this regard, he also wrote a research paper on "Guazhou Yulin Grotto Microenvironment Features and Preliminary Analysis of Their Effects on Mural Diseases", Published in the 6th issue of "Dunhuang Studies" 2009.
Finally, in the aluminum alloy door of the Yulin Grotto, a screened door was installed to achieve good ventilation and protection in the cave.
At that time, there was a research topic on the protection of Yulin Grottoes. Environmental monitoring of the caves was of great significance to the protection of cultural relics. Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes had been equipped with its own weather station in the 1980s, but Yulin Grottoes had not yet.
"Building a weather station in Yulin Grottoes" using monitoring instruments to collect microenvironmental data in the caves has become Du Jianjun's dream.
He humbly consulted the experts of the Environmental Monitoring Room of the Conservation Research Institute of Dunhuang Research Institute, and later went to the School of Environment of Lanzhou University to learn about environmental meteorology, so as to improve himself theoretically.
After he returned to Yulin Grottoes, he built this weather station.
The establishment of the weather station provides important reference data for cave protection, and provides a basis for formulating cultural relics protection plans.
The studious Du Jianjun always wants to use the "good things" from the outside world on Yulin Grottoes.
When he went to study at Mogao Grottoes once, he saw a small box installation in the cave and was curious.
After inquiry, I learned that this is the most advanced HOBO temperature and humidity monitor in China, which can accurately record the temperature and humidity data in the cave microenvironment.
So he asked the experts to teach how to use the instrument, and brought this knowledge and advanced equipment back to Yulin Grottoes.
At the age of 18, Du Jianjun, who was still a ignorant boy, came to Yulin Grotto by mistake. He followed the experts and scholars who came to work in the institute to study bit by bit. To this day, he still maintains the innocent heart when he first came to Yulin Grotto. There are still many ideas for the protection and utilization of caves.
He said: "It was Yulin Grottoes who nurtured me and witnessed my growth, both bitterness and joy. Now I can't live without Yulin Grottoes, and Yulin Grottoes also need me to do something for her."
Over the past 30 years, the Yulin Grottoes have changed bit by bit. Du Jianjun "sees it in his eyes and remembers it in his heart." He firmly said, "If there is a chance, I hope to accompany her in the next 30 years." (End)