As a famous historical and cultural city, Beijing not only has the largest and best-preserved ancient imperial buildings in the world, but also has a huge number of various ancient buildings. According to the results of the Third National Census of Cultural Relics, a total of 766722 immovable cultural relics have been registered nationwide (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), of which 3840,<> are in Beijing.
In recent years, Beijing has continuously increased its efforts to protect ancient buildings, and completed the repair of many cultural relics and ancient buildings. The "Small Forbidden City in the West of Beijing" Wanshou Temple ushered in a century-old overhaul, Zhengyangmen Arrow Tower showed its true appearance after repair, and the Drum Tower became an Internet celebrity check-in point after repair... These reborn ancient buildings have allowed more people to feel the charm of the ancient capital Beijing and understand its cultural connotations.
According to the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Relics, in the past five years, Beijing has invested nearly 7 billion yuan in cultural relics protection, successively implemented hundreds of cultural relics repair and environmental improvement projects, and carried out protective retreat of nearly 135 cultural relics, and the state of cultural relics protection has been significantly improved. The quality supervision and management system of cultural relics protection has been put into operation, and the level of protection, management and display of 501 world cultural heritage sites of the Grand Canal, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Ming Tombs, the Temple of Heaven and Zhoukoudian Peking Ren Sites has been continuously improved, and the number of national key cultural relics protection units in the city has increased to 160. Beijing successfully completed the first national census of movable cultural relics, registering <>.<> million pieces (sets) of state-owned movable cultural relics and a total of <>.<> million pieces (sets) of newly discovered and newly recognized cultural relics collections, ranking first in the country.
With more than 18 years of experience, Wang Yuwei has witnessed the development of cultural relics protection in Beijing, and the focus of cultural relics protection has shifted from "rescue protection" to "preventive protection". He is the former Director of the Cultural Relics Protection Division of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Relics and a member of the Cultural Relics Protection Expert Database of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and has long been engaged in the protection, repair and management of cultural heritage. "Latecomer" Zhang Tao has participated in the work for <> years, presided over the Yunju Temple Shijing Cave rescue and protection project, Zhengjue Temple main hall platform foundation rescue protection project, Wuta Temple King Kong Throne Tower emergency protection project, etc., he used scientific and technological means to prolong the life of ancient buildings.
What are the characteristics of ancient buildings in Beijing, how should ancient buildings be repaired, how should "preventive protection" be carried out, and what problems need to be paid attention to in the protection and utilization of cultural relics? In this regard, the Beijing News reporter talked to Wang Yuwei, member of the cultural relics protection expert database of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and Zhang Tao, director of the Science and Technology Protection Research Office of the Beijing Institute of Archaeology.
"The protection of ancient buildings in Beijing continues to increase"
Beijing News: What is your impression of Beijing's ancient buildings?
Zhang Tao: Beijing retains a large number of typical official-style buildings, and the construction skills of these buildings have reached a very high level, which is also a distinctive feature of Beijing. I am a native of Beijing, living next to the east gate of the Temple of Heaven, and when I was a child, I would follow my parents to the Temple of Heaven. At that time, when I saw the domes and the Hall of Prayer for the New Year, I couldn't help but marvel at the majesty of the ancient buildings and determined to protect them. Unexpectedly, when I grew up, I really engaged in cultural relics protection, which can be regarded as fulfilling my dream back then.
Beijing News: Regarding ancient architecture, what are the characteristics or unique advantages of Beijing?
Wang Yuwei: The first is the large scale and high building grade, and the total area of cultural relics buildings in Beijing ranks first in the country; The second is that there are many royal buildings, and there are more official buildings in the royal palace, which are mainly concentrated in the Beijing area in the late period, such as Prince Gong's Mansion and the Royal Garden; The third is that Beijing currently has seven world cultural heritage sites, and it is also one of the cities with the highest concentration of world cultural heritage; The fourth is that Beijing has the best and most complete ancient buildings, and the relevant personnel have spent a lot of manpower and material resources on them; Fifth, from the perspective of management, the protection of ancient buildings in Beijing has been continuously increased, and relevant systems have been continuously improved.
Beijing News: How has the focus of Beijing's cultural relics protection changed over the years?
Wang Yuwei: The Beijing Municipal Government has been increasing its efforts to protect cultural relics. Since 2000, the municipal government has allocated 1 million yuan every year, and it has taken three years to alleviate all the dangers of cultural relics in Beijing. In 1, Beijing launched the "Humanistic Olympic Cultural Relics Protection Program", and a large number of ancient buildings were repaired. Subsequently, Beijing implemented a medium- and long-term conservation plan, and the protection of ancient buildings entered a virtuous circle. In the past decade, Beijing's cultural relics protection system has been continuously improved, and the focus of protection has gradually changed from "rescue protection" to "preventive protection".
From "salvage protection" to "preventive protection"
Beijing News: Please briefly introduce what "preventive protection" is?
Zhang Tao: Repairs to the collapse of ancient buildings or the existence of diseases visible to the naked eye are "rescue protection". The "preventive protection" will include all cultural relics in the preventive protection system, conduct regular physical examinations, find problems in time, and solve them in a targeted manner. This kind of early protection measures can effectively kill serious diseases in the cradle and reduce the situation of overhaul of building undercarriage, roof overhaul and so on. At present, "preventive protection" has been promoted and applied in advanced protection areas across the country, and Beijing is in the leading ranks in the country.
Beijing News: What is the principle of "preventive protection"?
Zhang Tao: In terms of protecting ancient buildings, we adhere to three principles. First, long-term persistence. The detection and protection of ancient construction cannot fish for three days and dry nets for two days, and it takes years of testing data to find the disease trend of ancient construction. The second is to use non-destructive or micro-loss detection. If the detection method used harms the cultural relics themselves, it is absolutely prohibited. Third, it must not be harmful to the surrounding environment and personnel. When we select testing equipment, we take into account the surrounding tourists, etc., and do not use harmful detection methods.
Beijing News: In the process of protection, will some new technologies be used?
Zhang Tao: In recent years, the protection technology of ancient buildings in Beijing has advanced by leaps and bounds. In the past, the staff could only judge the condition of the ancient building through the naked eye, and could not see the defects inside the building, so there were potential safety hazards that would cause sudden danger. For example, the old craftsman can only use a hammer to judge the decay and moth inside the wooden pillars and wooden beams, but it is easy to have problems such as missing knocks and not knowing the specific decay area.
The "preventive protection" will introduce a large number of advanced scientific instruments as support, such as micro-drilling resistance meter, stress wave, radar, infrared thermal imager and other instruments, which can quantify the degree of disease of ancient buildings and accurately investigate the disease. For example, the use of a micro-drill resistance meter is similar to probing a needle through the ancient building body, and finally through the map presented by the instrument, you can see the proportion of decayed area in the wood component and directly calculate the effective cross-sectional area. Subsequently, the staff can determine whether there are potential safety hazards in the ancient building, and the efficiency of disease judgment has been greatly improved.
Beijing News: Regarding "preventive protection", what room for improvement in the future?
Zhang Tao: First, at the national level, it is recommended to introduce more relevant policies and regulations to give more support to the protection and utilization of ancient buildings from the institutional level; Second, at the level of scientific and technological research and development, preventive protection and non-destructive testing require cutting-edge instruments and equipment, and it is hoped that the Ministry of Science and Technology, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and other institutions can provide support for related topics; Third, at the talent level, there are currently few professionals engaged in cultural protection work, and most of them will only repair ancient buildings, and will not do preventive protection, hoping to train more relevant professionals in the future; Fourth, at the level of standard setting, it is now more important to formulate standards, carry out training, and drive the entire industry to guide and educate more people to do cultural relics protection.
"Appropriate use on the premise of protection"
Beijing News: What do you think are the main values of ancient buildings?
Zhang Tao: On the one hand, I think ancient buildings represent the soul and carrier of Chinese culture, reflect the scientific and technological level of architecture in those years, and its historical, cultural and artistic values are very high. Especially in the past, when productivity was not strong, it was very good that people could build tall buildings with such stable force performance. On the other hand, ancient buildings contain the beauty of traditional art. Many ancient buildings have beautiful meanings, which has unique advantages in promoting traditional culture.
Beijing News: Regarding the protection of ancient buildings, what aspects of investment can be increased in the future?
Wang Yuwei: The first is talent training, and the talents protected by ancient buildings cannot be cut off. The second is to increase publicity, the public's awareness of cultural relics protection needs to be improved, and the understanding of cultural heritage protection by experts and front-line personnel is also constantly deepening. I particularly agree that the promotion of Cultural Heritage Protection Day should go to schools, institutions, and troops to let more people know about cultural relics protection. The third is to dare to accept new technologies and new concepts, not to be too conservative, but to innovate and develop. The concept of heritage conservation is constantly evolving, our understanding is also constantly changing, do not stop, accept new things. For immovable artefacts to come alive, it is necessary to dig into their meaning, understand their role in history and society, and tell their stories.
Beijing News: What issues need to be paid attention to in the protection and utilization of ancient buildings?
Wang Yuwei: On the premise of protection, it can be used moderately. In terms of cultural protection and utilization, it is necessary to grasp the degree well, take protection as the premise, publicity and education as the main purpose, and prevent excessive utilization that is not conducive to the protection of cultural relics. The protection of cultural relics should "not change the original state", not only to protect the building itself, but also to protect the cultural connotation carried by the building. We protect cultural relics for two purposes, one is to protect spiritual wealth, just like the Great Wall symbolizes a spiritual force and can play a cohesive role; Second, China's unique traditional construction skills also need to be passed on and cannot be lost. In addition, the idea of protection should also be opened, and the historical environment around the ancient building should also be protected. For example, when tourists go to the Summer Palace, in addition to seeing the architecture and cultural relics, they will also appreciate the beautiful environment.
Beijing News reporter Wu Caiqian Intern Jin Zhiyi