China News Service, Urumqi, April 13 (Gou Jipeng) "As a cultural relic restorer, you need to have professional knowledge in multiple disciplines, but also need great patience and perseverance." Deputy Director and Deputy Director of the Cultural Relics Protection Technology Department of the Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology Kang Xiaojing, a research librarian, said.
Recently, a reporter from Chinanews.com met this "cultural heritage doctor", who is mainly responsible for the restoration of textile cultural relics.
A small studio is full of materials, tools and equipment she used to restore artifacts.
Dozens of gadgets such as tweezers and brushes, as well as dozens of threads and fabrics, she can clearly distinguish their properties and uses.
Kang Xiaojing showed reporters the recent restoration results she and her team completed, a set of Qing Dynasty costumes unearthed in Hami, Xinjiang.
Through the comparison of photos, the reporter saw that a set of official uniforms of the Qing Dynasty, which was originally rotten, wrinkled and beyond recognition, has been revealed and restored, and it has returned to the past.
"There are many types of cultural relics uncovered in this project, including organic cultural relics, inorganic cultural relics and composite cultural relics." Kang Xiaojing said that this protection and restoration project is a multi-disciplinary composite restoration project. Through the cooperation of many institutions such as the Academy, an effective protection and restoration mechanism has been formed, and a new model has been explored for the protection and restoration, research and project implementation of movable cultural relics in Xinjiang.
Kang Xiaojing also showed reporters several professional equipment, some used for dust removal, some used to analyze the body of cultural relics and microorganisms in the air, some used to disinfect and control environmental humidity, etc., like walking into a chemical laboratory .
"In addition to the problems of adhesion, decay, wrinkle and rupture of textile cultural relics, pollution and microbial damage are also particularly serious. In order to achieve cultural relic safety, environmental safety, and personnel safety during the restoration process, we have cooperated with the State Administration of Cultural Heritage on the prevention of harmful organisms in the collection of cultural relics. A key scientific research base (China Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing), for the prevention and control of microbial diseases and environmental control, both the symptoms and the root causes."
In addition, careful observation is also extremely important in restoration. Observation and analysis equipment such as super-depth microscope, hyperspectral imaging system, and scanning electron microscope play an important role in the restoration of cultural relics before, during and after restoration.
Despite the assistance of modern technical means, the most difficult thing for Kang Xiaojing is the leveling of cultural relics.
"The preservation of this group of textile cultural relics is extremely poor, and they are almost broken when touched. Care must be taken in the process of leveling, little by little, often for many days." Kang Xiaojing said that this is only one of the basic skills of textile cultural relics restoration. There are backing dyeing, needle and thread reinforcement and other repair methods, one needle and one thread, which is a test of hands-on skills.
So far, Kang Xiaojing has been engaged in the restoration and protection of cultural relics for more than ten years, and has restored textile cultural relics and other types of cultural relics unearthed from archaeological excavations such as the Xinjiang Xiaohe Cemetery, Yingpan Cemetery in Yuli County, Niya Cemetery, and the Keakkuduke Fengsui Site.
"Sometimes repairing cultural relics is like opening a blind box. Before the exhibition, you never know what kind of world you will face. It is my mission to protect and restore these cultural relics. Cultural relics 'live', and then through research and interpretation, so that history and culture can be inherited." She said.
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