DIARIO DEL PUEBLO digital 2023:03:08.16:09
Song Jing examines a restored page from an ancient document. Zou Hong/China Daily
Every time Song Jing visits a museum, she checks out the old book section. In addition to appreciating the hidden wisdom in those historic volumes, she focuses on how they were bound and presented.
“It’s more of a habit because of my job,” says Song, 34, who has been working in the ancient book restoration division at the National Library of China in Beijing for eight years. This involves studying and delving into unique binding methods that have not been seen before, while also evaluating the skills of the masters who bring those treasures to light on paper.
“You can tell craftsmanship from subtlety in the degrees of consistency in the texture and color of the paper,” Song said.
The National Library of China is home to some 3 million ancient books, which in China are defined as manuscripts, books and documents from before 1911, the year the empire was abolished.
Time passes quickly in this workshop on the first floor of the library, but for Song and his fellow restorers, time is relative. His work is calculated not through “years” but “lives”. Day after day, the 10 or so specialists are fully immersed in the duty of handling and treating the old books. The flow of time can hardly be felt, except through the yellowing pages and aging hair.
Song turned to the ancient books division after finishing his studies in cultural relics protection at Peking University in 2015. He has dedicated himself to restoring more than 100 ancient cultural relics, including the writings of Emperor Qianlong and Empress Cixi of Qing dynasty (1644 -1911).
The process of repairing old books is complex and time consuming.
Song and the other restorers have to check in at 8:30 a.m. every day to get ready before beginning their restoration work about an hour later.
“The paste needs to be mixed just before the repair, otherwise it will go bad if it’s made too long in advance,” he explains.
“In addition, the density of the paste varies according to different tasks, which requires on-site preparation.”
Song says that pastes for gluing paper and silk are different. Also, restore tools should be checked to make sure they are very clean.
“If there is some residual paste on the brush, there may be a risk that it will pierce the paper,” Song said.
After everything is ready, the restoration job can take seven to eight hours.
Before beginning a restoration project, Song and his colleagues assess the issue. They should consider which issues can and cannot be resolved through restoration, and assess how the restoration process might undermine the item.
“For example, there are many stains or mold spots on old paintings, and some of them are really deep, so we need to judge whether the paper fiber will be compromised after removal,” Song said. “It all depends on specific cases.”
In the worst cases, Song can find dozens of damaged areas on a single page of an ancient book.
“We have to create similar pieces of paper to patch them up in as neat a way as possible,” she admitted. “It’s challenging, and sometimes I even end up dreaming about the repairs.”
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(Web editor: Zhao Jian, Zhou Yu)
