Contributing Youth to the Protection of Ancient Books (Youth School)
Ancient books are carriers of culture and records of civilization. The role of ancient books is crucial to the long history and culture of the Chinese nation that can continue endlessly and endlessly.
Today, in the upsurge of inheriting and developing China's excellent traditional culture, groups of young people have devoted themselves to the protection of ancient books, from the census of ancient books to the restoration of ancient books to the digitization of ancient books, the figure of youth shines in the yellowed pages, and the power of youth bursts out in ancient books.
Post-00s Ancient Books Census Volunteer——
"The book is there, the context is there, and the culture is there"
This summer, Zhang Weiyao, a sophomore at the School of History and Archives of Yunnan University and a post-00s boy, did not return to his hometown in Luliang, Shanxi, but chose to stay in Kunming. What attracted him was not the beauty and food of Yunnan, but ancient books. After learning that Yunnan Provincial Library was recruiting volunteers for the census of ancient books in the summer, Zhang Weiyao immediately signed up: "I am a history student, I just studied philology last semester, and participating in the census of ancient books will deepen my understanding of philology. ”
The experience of actually participating in the census of ancient books proves that Zhang Weiyao's judgment is correct. Facing the ancient books that exuded the smell of Chinese medicine in the camphor cabinet, Zhang Weiyao felt very excited. Although he had done the sorting of inscriptions and rubbings before, and had touched ancient books in the library with his own hands, the mysterious atmosphere emitted by the ancient books in front of him still attracted him.
After the training of the library teacher, Zhang Weiyao and several classmates began to work: take books, take photos, view, register, upload, return books... The seemingly simple process contains rich content, and only one registration requires you to figure out the author, age, version, paper, binding and more than a dozen other contents.
Before participating in the census of ancient books, Zhang Weiyao specially took out the philology textbooks he had just learned to review them, but during the actual census, he found that the class involved less version, catalog, binding and other philological knowledge, but it was the focus of the ancient book census. "I feel that my understanding of philology has deepened." Zhang Weiyao said.
The bigger gain is that in the census he found some historical information that he did not know before, which is just in line with next year's academic year paper, "My thesis mainly involves the historical geography of the southwest frontier, I collect these materials and make them into cards, so that when I write my paper next year, I will not be in a hurry." ”
Wu Jie, a graduate student at Yunnan University's School of History and Archives, took up a volunteer for the first time this year for the census of ancient books. In Qujing City Library, she wears a blue coat and a mask every day, moving books, reading, taking photos, and registering in the ancient book warehouse... The young girl does not find it boring, on the contrary, surprises from time to time. During the census, Wu Jie found a "Sixteen Types of Western Studies" published during the Republic of China, which detailed Western mathematics, astronomy, geography and other knowledge. "My major is historical geography, and there are quite a few maps in this set of books, some of which are very rare." Needless to say.
In just 10 working days, with the help of librarians, six students, including Wu Jie and Zhang Weiyao, completed the census registration of 6 639,7055 ancient books.
Census of ancient books is a basic work of ancient book protection, and only by finding out the background of ancient books and understanding the situation of ancient book storage can we talk about the next step of protection and utilization. Since 2015, the China Association for the Protection of Ancient Books has launched the "Chinese Ancient Books Census Cultural Volunteer Service Action", attracting thousands of college students across the country to participate, and completing the census registration of nearly 200 million ancient books.
After the two-week census work, Zhang Weiyao went to see the movie "Chang'an 30,000 Li". The poet Gao Shi said at the end of the movie: "As long as the poem is there, the book is there, Chang'an is there." This sentence moved Zhang Weiyao, who said: "These poems and books can be passed down through the ages, in addition to the literary and artistic brilliance of the works themselves, they are also inseparable from the hard work of bibliophiles." It is the generation of documentary workers who have devoted themselves to the pile of old papers and done these great undertakings that 'poetry is there, books are there'. Having the honor to participate in this ancient book census made me feel more truly: the book is there, the context is there, and the culture is there! ”
Post-90s ancient book restorer -
"Extending the life of ancient books and paintings is the meaning of my work"
"As an ancient book restorer, I was surprised that I actually learned to knead dough." Liu Jing, a post-90s girl, is the youngest restorer of ancient books in the Capital Library. Speaking of ancient book restoration, this quiet and introverted girl's eyes flashed and a smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
In 2016, the documentary "I Repair Cultural Relics in the Forbidden City" was broadcast, in which several cultural relics restorers left a deep impression on Liu Jing. Studying painting, she envies that restorers can have close contact with precious cultural relics, especially ancient paintings and books. "To paint Chinese painting well, you must learn ancient painting, that is, copy ancient painting. It would be nice if you could see or even copy the real thing! That's when she wanted to become a restorer of ancient books.
After being admitted as a graduate student in calligraphy and painting restoration, Liu studied with Xu Jianhua, an expert in ancient calligraphy and painting restoration at the Palace Museum and a national non-genetic inheritor of ancient painting and calligraphy framing restoration.
"Prolonging the life of ancient books and paintings is the meaning of my work, and it is also what moves me the most." Liu said that every time he saw the broken ancient books and paintings, he would be shocked: "Some books can no longer be opened, some books have broken many holes, and the handwriting has begun to be lost." And when an ancient book that is riddled with holes and difficult to read is restored into a book that can be borrowed, Liu Jue said, the sense of satisfaction and accomplishment in his heart is indescribable, "probably equivalent to the feeling that a doctor has cured a patient." ”
Paper acidification is the main cause of aging and damage in ancient documents. A recent test by the Capital Library found that many ancient books had acidification problems, and some ancient books had a pH value of 4 or 5. As acidity increases, the paper becomes brittle, and the slag will break at the slightest touch or flipping. For such a seriously acidified ancient book, it is first necessary to deacidify and soak the book in an alkaline solution for half an hour to an hour. "Whenever this happens, I am very nervous and keep looking, afraid of accidents." Liu said.
The "Rules of the Tai Chang Temple" is an ancient book that records the royal rituals of the Qing Dynasty, which is severely acidified and will be powdered at the slightest touch. After getting this ancient book, Liu Jing carefully measured and recorded the type of paper, pH value, and cover material... Develop a remediation plan. Because it is a royal book, the cover of this book is bright yellow Ayako, but with the passage of time, the bright yellow has long degenerated into a gray yellow. In order to achieve the goal of "repairing the old as the old", Liu Jue experimented by himself, dyed Ayako with mineral pigments, and after several iterations, finally succeeded in imitating the old. "Seeing the same from afar, looking at the difference at close range," Liu said, "Restoration is to preserve the historical information precipitated by time as completely as possible." ”
Small awls for binding, small drivers for removing paper, pastes for gluing... These commonly used repair tools were all made by Liu Li himself. And kneading is also an indispensable skill for the restoration of ancient books.
"Ancient books must be dusted before they can be restored. And it is better to use dough for dust removal. The dough should not be too soft, soft will stick to the book, nor too hard, hard may crush the paper, must be soft and hard. Liu Jing said that the restoration of ancient books is not just a row of brushes and a brush can be completed, you must have a certain theoretical knowledge of ancient books and paintings, be familiar with the history and structure of calligraphy and painting, be familiar with the characteristics of paper, pigments and dyes, and if necessary, you can dye paper and cloth yourself.
In restoration, there are sometimes unexpected surprises. For example, when Liu found that the ancients had written typos, he would cover it with a small piece of paper and rewrite it on the piece of paper, just like the current scribble tape. "Sometimes, traces of ancients repairing books can be found." Liu said that at this time, he will feel that the ancient and modern are connected and the culture is passed down, "This may be the unique pleasure of ancient book restorers." ”
Since it's work, it's not all fun. Many ancient books are dusty and moldy, which can easily cause allergies or rhinitis. Liu Jing began to engage in the restoration of ancient books, urticaria came to the door, as soon as he turned over the ancient books waiting to be repaired, his arms would be covered with wheals, itching so much that he couldn't stand it, and he didn't dare to scratch. Every seizure can only be resisted by taking medicine. "The lifespan of ancient books and paintings has been extended because of me, so allergies are nothing at all." Liu Jue said firmly.
Post-80s computer technology experts -
Digital technology empowers the preservation of ancient books
"The best way to solve the contradiction between 'collection' and 'use' of ancient books is to digitize." After the 80s, Lu Yafeng is the head of a technology company, and after 15 years in the field of ancient book protection, he originally studied computer science and protected ancient books like a treasure -
"Ancient books are both documents and cultural relics, and many ancient books are old and brittle, and every time you read them, it is a damage. Therefore, many precious ancient books can not be easily displayed, and researchers cannot ignore the physical object, and this contradiction can be solved by digitalization. Digitalization transforms paper documents into electronic documents, changing a carrier, which can not only be preserved for a long time, but also facilitate copying, retrieval, and review..."
Lv Yafeng's hometown is Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, where the famous Hongshan culture originated. Lv Yafeng listened to many cultural relics stories since he was a child, and cultivated a strong interest in history and culture. After graduating from university, in casual contact, Lu Yafeng found that due to backward technical means, many ancient and precious ancient documents could not be effectively protected and utilized, and were piled up in unknown corners, dusted or even forgotten. "At that time, I wanted to make use of my strengths, do my best to protect ancient books, and find a new direction for myself." Lu Yafeng said.
Computer technology has greatly improved the efficiency of ancient book protection. "Take text input, now the text automatic recognition technology can recognize one page per second, if it is manually entered, it takes at least tens of seconds; Moreover, many traditional characters on ancient books may not be recognized by the input, and some words cannot be typed by input methods. Digital technology can overcome these difficulties and greatly improve efficiency. "There are estimated to be more than 20,5000 kinds of ancient books and more than <> million copies in existence, and it is impossible to rely on manual input, and we must rely on advanced digital technology." ”
"Transfering" ancient books from paper to a computer is not as simple as taking a picture as imagined. The digitization of ancient books first requires scanning. The scanning must use a non-contact high-definition scanner, which scans line by line to ensure that the pixels of each point are consistent and the original appearance of the ancient book is preserved to the greatest extent; A cold light source must be used to prevent damage to the paper by heat. Secondly, it is necessary to digitally process the picture, perform text recognition on the high-definition picture, generate text, and use artificial intelligence technology to automatically label possible errors. The third step is manual review, which compares the identified text with the ancient paper book to prevent errors. Finally, the high-definition pictures and text are combined into a cross-referenced file for easy reading and use.
Lv Yafeng introduced that the protection of ancient books has entered the era of artificial intelligence. Advanced technologies such as automatic punctuation, automatic translation, automatic indexing, and automatic proofreading are increasingly widely used in the field of ancient book protection. "Next, we will also carry out in-depth development of the ancient books that have been digitized, and use machine learning to make the knowledge, culture, and ideas contained in the ancient books become interrelated knowledge graphs that are more suitable for use."
Lv Yafeng believes that the digitization of ancient books is only the first step, and it is more important to make ancient books use and live: "Digital technology can greatly reduce the threshold for reading ancient books. In the past, if they were not professionally trained, many people could not read ancient books, but now with a click of the mouse, ancient books can be automatically translated and the public can understand them. ”
After working in the field of ancient book protection for more than ten years, Lv Yafeng has witnessed this unpopular industry gradually becoming known to the public, and he feels that the government departments are paying more and more attention to the protection of ancient books, and he is full of confidence in the future. Lv Yafeng said: "The use of science and technology to empower the protection of ancient books can activate the dissemination and vitality of Chinese ancient books in the new era. By protecting ancient books and perpetuating these precious cultural assets, our cultural self-confidence can be more powerful. ”
Typography design: Shen Yiling
(People's Daily reporter Zhang He)