Scalpels, microscopes, paint boxes, welding guns, and bottles and jars containing various reagents, these seemingly unrelated objects are handy tools for cultural relic restorers. It is also under their careful care that the national treasures carrying the millennium civilization of China were able to stand on the showcase. Because of the uniqueness and non-renewability of cultural relics, the restoration and protection of cultural relics is not only meticulous but also complicated. Restoring a conventional cultural relic requires more than 20 processes including photography, drawing, analysis, cleaning, orthopedics, and bonding.

Du An, deputy director and deputy research librarian of the Cultural Relics Protection Research Center of Henan Museum, has more than 20 years of experience in cultural relic restoration. He said that the restoration of cultural relics is quiet and lonely. In many cases, there are more than a dozen people sitting in front of the restoration platform. hours; but the restoration work is also enthusiastic and busy, requiring a high degree of cooperation from hands, eyes, and brains, and when necessary, orthopedic tools should be made according to the actual situation.

At present, there are more than 10 million cultural relics in urgent need of restoration in China's state-owned museums alone, but there are only more than 2,000 restorers on the list. Duan called on more young cultural relic lovers to actively participate in the restoration and protection of cultural relics, and jointly protect these national treasures that bear witness to the Chinese civilization.Editor/Ma Xue