Dunhuang archaeological preparation position "zero application" cultural protection talent dilemma: there is no lack of motivation to worry about wages
Recently, the topic of "No one is interested in Dunhuang archaeological preparation positions" has been on the hot search.
In the environment of the popularity of examinations and examinations, there are "zero applicants" for the positions of archaeological institutes with preparations. This has caused everyone's attention to the current situation of talents in related fields in today's increasingly popular "archaeology craze" and "cultural protection craze".
Many interviewees mentioned in an interview with a reporter from Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star News that Dunhuang's remote location, strict recruitment and work requirements, and low salary and other factors have discouraged many candidates.
For scholars in the archaeology industry, whether they can adapt to high-intensity work and harsh environments will affect whether they choose other industries after graduation, or go to professional archaeology.
In the archaeological world, methods are also being explored to try to get rid of the dilemma of the shortage of archaeological talents.
Dunhuang archaeological preparation positions are cold and "zero application" has become a hot topic
On September 14, the second episode of the documentary "Master Dunhuang", which tells the story of Dunhuang civilization and its guardians, was officially launched.
In the documentary, Zhang Xiaogang, director of the Dunhuang Institute of Archaeology, said that this year, the number of archaeological institutes has increased, which has led to fewer applicants willing to go to Dunhuang. For a while, the topic of "no one is interested in Dunhuang archaeological preparation positions" rushed to the hot search list, causing heated discussions.
"On the one hand, there is a fever for public examinations. This year, the number of applicants for the national exam exceeded 2 million. On the other hand, there is a fever for archaeology. Many cultural relics, cultural relics institutions, and archaeology-related programs have become popular on the Internet." People's Daily Online mentioned that the enthusiasm for archaeology and the coldness of practitioners need to be "broken."
Director Zhang Xiaogang mentioned in an interview with the "Beijing News" that in recent years, archaeology has changed from cold to hot, which is felt by the whole people.
For example, Dunhuang, a thousand-year-old IP has become a new Internet celebrity.
The social significance of archaeology is increasing in China, and the number of people who really like archaeology is also rising.
From the perspective of the general environment, now is indeed the golden age of Chinese archaeology.
But those who really engage in archaeology have always been a minority.
Director Zhang Xiaogang also mentioned that in recent years, the number of applicants for the Dunhuang Institute of Archaeology has been frequent.
A better situation is that in 2020, 3 are recruited at one time.
In 2022, the original plan to recruit an archaeological position turned out to be absent.
At present, there are only about 20 people in the Dunhuang Institute of Archaeology.
Even if they don't do any other work and only do archaeological reports on the cave temples, these people are still not enough.
Therefore, doing archaeological reports on cave temples or doing field archaeology will affect each other.
"As far as I know, the large institutes in various places, especially the provincial institutes, have increased a lot of staff in the past two years. For example, some provinces have expanded their staff from less than a few dozen people to two or three hundred people, which is very important for the national archaeological industry. It's a good thing, the country and the local government attach great importance to giving more places and funding for archaeology. But I'm beating the drum in my heart. There are only so many graduates of archaeology in one year. This place is even more difficult to recruit. In the same province, the recruitment situation is much better than ours." Director Zhang Xiaogang told the media.
How to retain people in remote location and low salary?
Dunhuang has rich historical materials and strong cultural heritage, but many interviewees mentioned in interviews with reporters that due to factors such as remote geographical location, strict recruitment and work requirements, and low salaries, many candidates Stay away.
Ah Bai is a Ph.D. student at Zhejiang University.
Abai told reporters that archaeology is a profession that "generates electricity for love".
Relying on the sacrifice and hard-working spirit of many archaeologists, archaeology has been able to develop so far.
The reason why no one applied for the Dunhuang archaeological preparation position is self-evident. "The money is not given enough, and the way to rise is not clear." He said, "We have the most dreams in this line of work. You do not lack this motivation at all, you will not feel this matter. It's boring or what I'm doing doesn't make sense. The only thing to worry about is wages."
Compared with material conditions, Zhejiang University’s master student A Tuan will consider the possibility of getting married and having children and the stability of the family, “If your partner can’t arrange a job there, then you definitely won’t go there. "
When it comes to how to retain people, Director Zhang Xiaogang said that there are three methods that can be used in parallel.
One is to keep people in terms of treatment, and try their best to improve treatment.
However, no matter how the treatment is improved, it cannot be compared with the big cities, especially the economically developed cities.
It is unrealistic to rely solely on treatment, so the second is to rely on emotions to keep people.
The third is the career retention, which is also the most important point.
Dunhuang has extensive and profound studies, and it has a unique geographical advantage, and there are professional things to do here.
Through his unremitting efforts, he can achieve breakthrough academic achievements and be respected and recognized by the international academic community in his own research field.
How to supplement the talent shortage and talent training reserve force?
Cao Bin, associate professor of the Department of Archaeology and Museology at the School of History, Renmin University of China, publicly stated that talents are the foundation of any industry's development, and archaeology is no exception.
To improve the quantity and quality of talents in archaeology, we must first focus on the cultivation of talents.
"Zero application" has become a hot topic. The deepest problem reflected behind this is actually the shortage of archaeological talents.
This kind of problem is not only faced by the Dunhuang Research Institute, but also many institutions cannot get out of the dilemma of the "small horse-drawn cart".
The article "About the Problems of Compilation and Employed Personnel Facing the Current Archaeological Work in my country" published by "Relics Research" mentioned that as of the end of 2019, there were 1,670 provincial cultural relic institutions in the country, plus national level units. In terms of the number of staff, the actual number of staff in cultural relics and archaeology institutions at or above the provincial level is less than 2,100.
If calculated in terms of land area, each archaeologist needs to undertake archaeological exploration and excavation tasks of 4571.4 square kilometers.
The lack of posts in cultural relics and archaeology institutions means that the daily promotion channel for scientific researchers is narrow, and the reserve force is difficult to supplement for a long time.
Regarding the training of professional talents and the flow of talents in the training, Associate Professor Cao Bin mentioned that archaeology, as an unpopular major, not only has a small enrollment scale, but also some students and parents give up the application due to fear of employment difficulties.
After entering the school, students who apply for archaeology are also faced with tests such as "transfer of majors" and "categorical enrollment diversion".
Therefore, to get rid of the dilemma of the shortage of archaeological talents, it is a necessary premise to give sufficient support to colleges and universities to recruit students and cultivate talents.
Associate Professor Cao Bin also expressed the hope that employers can lower the "undergraduate threshold".
Su Bomin, president of the Dunhuang Research Institute, suggested that the national education department should recognize cultural relics science and protection technology as independent disciplines, set up corresponding departments in colleges and universities, compile and publish unified textbooks, and formulate unified and standardized training programs. This move will vigorously promote The cultivation of high-level cultural relics protection research and restoration talents in China.
Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star News reporter Chen Qingyuan intern Li Huguo
(A Tuan, A Meng, A Min, and A Bai are all pseudonyms in the text, and the pictures are provided by the interviewees)
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The love and challenge of young archaeologists
Zhang Xiaoyang, Master of Archaeology, Zhejiang University:
In the documentary "Master Dunhuang", the daytime heat in Dunhuang is unbearable. Zhang Xiaoyang, who came from the south, is the first time to practice field archaeology.
During the day, Zhang Xiaoyang went to the Grotto Temple to record the overall structure of the cave and the details of the murals in detail.
At night, Zhang Xiaoyang still needs to stay up late to finish the archaeological report.
The high-intensity work, the harsh environment, and the gap with his peers once made Zhang Xiaoyang confused.
With the help of the teacher, Zhang Xiaoyang gradually settled down and returned to work. The archaeological report of the cave temple has also made great progress.
A Meng, an archaeology student at Sichuan University:
In the summer of 2022, A Meng, an archaeology student at Sichuan University, participated in the field practice at the Yangqu site.
According to A Meng's description to reporters, the Yangqu site is located in Xinghai County, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, with an average altitude of 3,924 meters.
The archaeological team consists of about 20 people who live in Yangqu Village, which is closer to the ruins.
The transportation from the resident to the site is inconvenient, and you need to take a 30-minute car ride and then climb a small hill.
There is no running water in Yangqu Village. The archaeological team needs to buy tap water in barrels for daily life such as cooking and bathing.
They get up at 7 am every day, take a short break at noon, and the excavation will continue until 6 pm.
In addition to the heavy work tasks, the harsh natural environment also impressed Amen.
The dry climate, strong winds, and unpredictable weather are all challenges for this group of scientific expedition teams.
Every day in the field is exhausted physically and mentally. Bending, kneeling and kneeling for a long time will cause certain damage to the knees and waist.
It's been more than a month since I returned from Qinghai, and Amen sometimes still suffers from knee pain while walking.
A Meng has not considered employment.
Although the one and a half months in Qinghai were hard work, I was very happy.
Witnessed the blue sky, the soaring eagle, the double rainbow that rained and the sky was clear, the cattle and sheep grazing on the grassland, the purple, yellow and red sunset, the Milky Way visible to the naked eye... She felt that she had encountered these scenery very lucky.
In October, she will be participating in another, longer field archaeological excavation.
Amin, who has been fond of history since high school:
Amin told reporters that he has liked history since high school, but did not major in archaeology when he was in college.
He even went over the wall and went to other schools to listen to the lessons.
Now, he has been engaged in archaeological work for nearly two years. He has gone to many excavations and lived in the construction site dormitory.
He feels that field archaeology needs sufficient enthusiasm to continue working for a long time. "There are few majors like archaeology, with low wages and low wages, only one day off for Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, and even many construction sites do not have a day off."
Amin is used to sharing clips and feelings during the archaeological process on Weibo.
Although he felt that the advocacy of archaeology's "niche majors are good for employment" is "pushing people into the fire pit", but he is willing to be in the "fire pit", just like a sentence he posted on Weibo: "Because of love So here we are."
A Tuan, a postgraduate student of Zhejiang University:
A Tuan, who is outgoing, chose the direction of cultural heritage at the master's level.
Compared with archaeology, A Tuan feels that the cultural heritage profession is more practical, such as evaluating cultural heritage and protecting large ruins.
And archaeology requires people to be "quiet".
But whether it is visiting museums, visiting stone inscriptions, or reading books or conducting field archaeology, both of them are related to "the dialogue between ancient people and modern people".
After graduation, A Tuan wants to be admitted to a public institution and engage in corresponding professional work, including museums, research institutes, etc., and prefers cities in the Yangtze River Delta.