Dunhuang Academy to Build Antique Preservation Alliance

Dunhuang Academy China will found an alliance for antique preservation technological innovation in Gansu Province within the year in a bid to beef up technological applications for the preservation and restoration of cultural relics throughout the country.

According to the academy president, Wang Xudong, his institution has developed and mastered mature technologies in this regard, and assisted many regions including Tibet and Ningxia in repairing historical sites and objects. In the process it became alarmed at the dire shortage of professionals and technologies available in the sector.

The planned alliance will muster museums, research institutes, universities, and corporations, and pool their personnel and technological resources and strengths to crack practical problems facing relic protectors. “In the future this alliance may go further in this supply-side reform by soliciting state or private funds, therefore alleviating the deficiency of antique preservation workers and funding,” Wang said.