China News Service, Chuxiong, Yunnan, September 12th, title: Approaching the restorer of Yi ancient books: repairing books also repairs the heart and saves the book like a continuation of life
China News Agency reporter Hu Yuanhang
One person, one table, one brush, one brush, one tweezers... Relying on these most common tools, two generations of ancient book restorers at the Chuxiong Yi Culture Research Institute of the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences have rescued thousands of Yi writings. Ancient books.
There are both the "Quanshan Jing" reflecting the ethical norms of the Yi people, the "History of the Six Ancestors of the Yi People" which records the migration process of the Yi people's ancestors, and the "History of the Delek Clan" which reflects the development of the Yi tribes, and the medical classics "Xianyao Zhengjing", etc. .
With the completion of the restoration of these ancient books, the codes of many ethnic cultures of the Yi people are unlocked, the Yi culture is better inherited, and the map of Chinese culture is more complete.
"Repairing a book also repairs the heart, saving a book is like continuing a life." A few days ago, Ou Li and Zhu Chengyan, two ancient book restorers from the Chuxiong Yi Culture Research Institute, expressed such emotions in an interview with a reporter from China News Agency.
In the long history of China, all ethnic groups have created excellent cultures and left behind a huge volume of ancient documents.
Since 1984, the Chinese government has carried out the protection, rescue, collection, sorting, translation, publication, and research of ancient books of ethnic minorities under the policy of "protection first, rescue first, rational utilization, and strengthened management".
Yunnan is a major ethnic minority province in China and has a rich and colorful ethnic minority ancient books.
Among them, the Yi nationality is the ethnic minority with the largest population in Yunnan, with a large collection of ancient books, a variety of types, and a wide range of contents, which have extremely important academic and use values.
Ou Li and Zhu Chengyan are the second generation of ancient book restorers at the Chuxiong Yi Culture Research Institute, under the tutelage of Wang Liping, the first generation ancient book restorer of the Institute, and Yang Liqun, a national ancient book restoration expert in Yunnan Province.
As early as 1981, when the institute (formerly known as the Chuxiong Yi Culture Research Office) was established, it went deep into the Yi districts of Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Guangxi. The research method that pays equal attention to historical materials, and extensively carry out the rescue, excavation, research, inheritance and development of the excellent traditional culture of the Yi people.
At present, the Chuxiong Yi Culture Research Institute has nearly 3,000 Yi language ancient books, covering politics, economy, history, philosophy, military, medicine, astronomy, geography, literature, folklore and other fields.
These ancient books were collected and sorted out by Liu Yaohan, the first dean of the Academy and the first Yi professor in New China, and other researchers who went deep into the Yi villages to collect and sort out.
"Like most ancient books restoration, the restoration of ancient books in Yi language also needs to follow the basic principles of'repair the old as the old, first rescue, supplementary treatment, minimal intervention, and reversible process'." Ou Li said that the restoration of ancient books is mainly based on the basic principles. Artificial.
Before the restoration, the restorers need to take photos, measure the size, record the page number, record the original appearance of the book, and then disassemble the ancient book, restore it to the form of paper, and restore it leaf by leaf.
It often takes several years to master repair techniques.
The reporter saw on the scene that due to the age, many ancient books to be repaired have been severely brittle and flocculated, some are incomplete, some are as thin as a cicada's wings, and some are as hard as bricks.
In order to disassemble an ancient book, it took nearly an hour for the two ancient book restorers to cooperate.
One afternoon, each of them only repaired three to four leaf ancient books.
"After several generations of exploration, we now mainly adopt techniques such as lining repair, partial support repair, full support repair, and hole repair to repair ancient books. To repair each leaf of ancient books, you need to go through water spraying and flattening with paper to fill holes. Processes such as water absorption and compaction." Zhu Chengyan told reporters that the most common thing encountered in the restoration of ancient books is to repair the holes. The paste used in the repair process must be prepared with de-gluten wheat starch. Gentle, good stability, and reversible operation, easy to follow-up repair.
In their daily work, Zhu Chengyan and Oli’s office is always the quietest, with only the sound of fingers rubbing the paper.
The evergreen big banyan tree outside the window does not seem to feel the change of seasons.
"Repairing books also cultivates the mind. You have to sit on a cold bench and perform meticulous work." Zhu Chengyan and Ouli always say this when it comes to their experience in repairing ancient books.
Different from ordinary ancient books, the ancient books of ethnic minorities, including those in the Yi language, were mostly used by folk artists and intellectuals of the ethnic group in the past. Most of them were hand-written orphans, and the binding forms were mostly thread-bound rolls and woolen ones. , The paper structure is uneven and the initial storage conditions are also very limited, which makes it more difficult to repair.
"Every time an ancient Yi language book is repaired, it is not only a renewal of this book, but also a rescue of our national culture." Ou Li said.
Xiao Huihua, director of the Chuxiong Yi Culture Research Institute, revealed that as the years go by, there are fewer and fewer people who are proficient in Yi culture, and the restoration and sorting of ancient Yi language books is becoming more and more urgent and important.
Adhering to the task of "saving people, saving books, and saving subjects", the institute has repaired and sorted out the ancient books, and has also cooperated with the local government and other relevant departments to use digitization and other means to regenerate the ancient books and open them to the public.
"The Chinese classics containing the classics of various ethnic minorities are vast. Every time we repair and innovate, it is an indispensable part of the watch civilization." Xiao Huihua hopes that more descendants will come closer to these ancient books and pass on the national culture. (over)