Did you know about the “social circles” of ancient influencers?
The Wuxi Stele Forest, China’s largest outdoor cliff stone carving museum, preserves 505 pieces of calligraphy and painting graffiti from the Tang Dynasty to the Republic of China. It stands as a rare treasure trove of stone carvings. Among these, the “Praise for the Revival of the Tang Dynasty,” composed by Yuan Jie and calligraphed by Yan Zhenqing in the Tang era, instantly captivated generations of scholars and notable figures, prompting them to visit and showcase their own writings. This created a buzz of enthusiastic followers, forming a dazzling “circle of poetry and prose.”
Preserving and restoring cultural heritage is crucial for cultural transmission. These cliff stone carvings have weathered the elements for a thousand years, and some surfaces have experienced varying degrees of erosion, making some inscriptions difficult to read with the naked eye. However, as immovable cultural relics, they cannot be physically carved or restored, as this could damage them. The question arises—how can we restore these precious cultural artifacts to their former glory?
The answer lies in the hands of the Mǎlánshān Youth!
Kong Hao, a 90s-born youth and Secretary General of the Marlan Mountain Cultural Digital Innovation Center, leads the digital protection and utilization project for the Wuxi Stone Carvings. Since July 2023, he and his team have been working on digitizing and restoring the Wuxi Stele Forest. Using professional equipment, they capture hundreds of photos of each stone from various angles and import these images into computers. By employing graphic overlay and rendering technologies, they process over 20 steps through 24 hours of computation for each medium-sized stone, achieving high-precision digital imaging that brings the inscriptions back to life.
“We restore the original text exactly as it was, without any artificial alterations,” Kong Hao explained. The high-definition digital images of the restored stone carvings allow these timeworn pieces, once nearly indecipherable, to come alive on screen, making it easy for visitors to comprehend them.
This dedicated and energetic team of 90s-borns is not just resurrecting stone carvings; they’re also developing a comprehensive plan that makes the inscriptions not just visible but also tangible and experiential. Initiatives like the “Cloud Tour of Wuxi” virtual space and the digital Wuxi mini-program aim to recontextualize these inscriptions through secondary development and application, breathing new life into ancient artifacts.
From May 23 to 27 of this year, the Marlan Mountain Cultural Digital Innovation Center showcased one of its projects, the digital version of Yan Zhenqing’s “Praise for the Revival of the Tang Dynasty,” at the Hunan Pavilion of the Shenzhen Cultural Expo. This exhibit drew considerable attention, alongside the “Digital Han Life” brand created in collaboration with the Hunan Museum.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the archaeological discovery of the Mawangdui Han tombs. “Digital Han Life” utilizes a wealth of digital resources to transform Mawangdui culture into an immersive, consumable experience through six dimensions: “Wear Han Clothing,” “Enjoy Han Music,” “Savor Han Cuisine,” “Use Han Remedies,” “Write Han Characters,” and “Purchase Han Gifts.”
By leveraging digital technology, artifacts from the Mawangdui tombs transcend the constraints of time and space, achieving a kind of digital immortality that resonates with a longing from centuries past. The application of digitalization opens up new possibilities for these relics in various contexts.
The integration of technology with culture is bringing life to the artifacts housed in museums, the heritage scattered across vast landscapes, and the writings found in ancient texts.
At the foot of Marlan Mountain, Kong Hao and his team have grasped the baton of cultural inheritance, using technology and youthful energy to rejuvenate ancient artifacts, showcasing the brilliance of Chinese civilization to the world.
The “Youth’s Song” series of online ideological courses, organized by the National Internet Information Office, is part of the initiative “Writing Youthful Chapters Across the Land.” Supported by the Internet Communication Bureau of the National Internet Information Office and the Hunan Provincial Internet Information Office, it aims to implement President Xi Jinping’s significant speeches on education and youth work, fulfill the fundamental task of character building, and explore new avenues for practical education and online learning. Through a series of thematic online ideological courses, it aims to closely integrate small ideological classrooms with larger social and online educational platforms, guiding youth to grasp the truth and practical power of the Party’s innovative theories and inspiring them to assume their responsibility in the new era and write their youthful chapters.
