"Post-80s" couples work together to repair cultural relics: let cultural relics have dignity and continue to pass on

China News Service Wuhan, February 2 Title: "Post-80s" husband and wife work together to repair cultural relics: let cultural relics have dignity and inheritance

China News Service reporter Liang Ting

During the Spring Festival, the newly built and opened Hubei Provincial Museum Phase III Exhibition Hall attracts tourists. After the expansion, the exhibition area of more than 2,700 square meters of the 800-year exhibition hall of the Chu Kingdom, the newly unveiled cultural relics attract tourists to punch in. Stopping in front of The Exhibition Chen's "Yin Xi Sees Lao Tzu", Zhao Xiaolong, the "post-80s", was relieved and proud.

Zhao Xiaolong is a cultural relics conservator at the Hubei Provincial Museum, and his wife, Zhang Xiaolong, is a cultural relics protection inspector. The two are not only the same age and have the same name, but also know each other because of the restoration of cultural relics. For more than ten years, the couple has worked together to restore cultural relics, so that the cultural logistics of the original "sleeping" warehouse can shine and continue the inheritance.

The reporter recently walked into Zhao Xiaolong's workshop, only to see that the room of more than 30 square meters was filled with various restoration tools such as rows of brushes, and several calligraphy and paintings that were still under restoration were arranged in turn and hung against the wall. Zhao Xiaolong held a horseshoe knife and a paintbrush in his hand, and his wife and two buried their heads in front of the workbench to jointly repair the ancient calligraphy paintings.

"This is the Qing Dynasty painter Huang Shen's "Receiving Blessings." Zhao Xiaolong introduced that the restoration of this painting lasted nearly 4 years, and its completion is imminent, and it will be returned to the warehouse. "It may be rare to see in the future." Zhao Xiaolong's words were full of reluctance.

The restoration process of an ancient painting and calligraphy covers nearly 20 steps. Affected by objective factors such as seasons, the restoration lasted a long time, and in order to ensure the progress of the work, the restorer often cross-repaired multiple works. "If you don't love it enough, it's hard to stick to it." Zhao Xiaolong said frankly that the restoration work hones the mind, and it is more necessary to invest energy and concentrate on practicing the skills.

The restoration of ancient paintings and calligraphy requires restorers to be familiar with historical knowledge, not only have excellent painting and writing skills, but also need to master chemistry, aesthetics, materials and other related knowledge. During his studies, Zhao Xiaolong studied pottery restoration and mounting techniques with the master. After entering the Hubei Provincial Museum in 2010, Zhao Xiaolong was accepted as a disciple by Xiong Changwei, an expert in the restoration of ancient lacquered wood, and then participated in the protection of cultural relics and the restoration of murals. Two years later, Fu Minghua, a master of ancient calligraphy and painting restoration in Hubei who had been searching for an inheritor, noticed Zhao Xiaolong and took him under his wing.

"I cherish every opportunity to get up close and personal with them ." In Zhao Xiaolong's view, restoration is a "dialogue" with cultural relics, and there can always be "fun discoveries". For example, he said, observing the seals and inscriptions left on ancient paintings and calligraphy, you can understand the author's creative state of mind at that time, and by observing the traces left by the conservators of past generations, "brain supplements" inferred their working state, personality characteristics, body shape characteristics, etc., which made him happy.

Before restoration, a "full body physical examination" of cultural relics is indispensable, which is the specialty of his wife Zhang Xiaolong. As a "cultural relics doctor", she completes the detection and material analysis of paper products by manipulating professional instruments, such as paper composition, age, and place of origin, and determines the type of damage to cultural relics, whether it is mildew or damage caused by insects, etc., providing a reference for the restorer to accurately formulate a plan.

The entire restoration process is inseparable from the "cultural relics doctor". Zhang Xiaolong introduced, for example, in the restoration of supplementary materials, by detecting the composition of cultural relics materials, so that the conservators can find materials that are in harmony with the original style to improve the efficiency of restoration. The couple's traditional craftsmanship and modern technology have combined to restore the damaged ancient calligraphy and paintings to their former style.

The Hubei Provincial Museum now has nearly 10,000 calligraphy and painting works, including 114 first-class works. The third phase of the new museum has set up a special exhibition of fine calligraphy and painting to display the treasures of calligraphy and painting in the collection. Nowadays, one of the priorities of Zhang Xiaolong's work is to do a good job in the preventive protection of cultural relics, that is, to improve the storage environment of cultural relics with the help of scientific and technological means when the cultural relics have not yet been damaged. She introduced that different cultural relics have different requirements for temperature, humidity, light and so on. For example, silk and painted lacquered wood are sensitive to light, and bronze requires a humidity of less than 45%, otherwise it is prone to corrosion, rust or chemical reactions. "For the characteristics of different cultural relics, many display cases have added sensors." Zhang Xiaolong introduced that through the background screen, the environmental parameters of cultural relics storage are obtained in real time and adjusted in a timely manner.

"Cultural relics also have dignity, and the meaning of the conservator is to make them more dignified and continue for a long time." Zhao Xiaolong said that with the popularization of archaeological programs and the blessing of scientific and technological means, many cultural relics have "gone out of the circle to absorb powder". It is the inheritance and persistence of generations of cultural relics restorers that enable future generations to understand the story behind cultural relics and understand the profundity of Chinese culture. He said that he will firmly move forward with his wife, "hoping that more cultural relics can be decently presented in the exhibition cabinet."

(China News Network)