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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 16, 2003

China Innovates to Better Protect Dunhuang Manuscripts

Chinese researchers said porcelain tablets could become an ideal material for the duplication of ancient manuscripts unearthed in the Dunhuang Grottos of northwest China's Gansu province.


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Chinese researchers said porcelain tablets could become an ideal material for the duplication of ancient manuscripts unearthed in the Dunhuang Grottos of northwest China's Gansu province.

Ma De, deputy director of the Dunhuang Research Institute, said Wednesday that porcelain tablets developed by the Guangdong-based Zhinan Culture Company could be used for authentic and exact reproductions of the manuscripts.

People can spot the color, texture and even wrinkles of the original papers from the replicas made on specially processed porcelain tablets, he said.

Compared with other reproduction materials, such as stone tablets, wood and film, Ma noted that porcelain tablets are much easier to preserve as they are very resistant to acid, water, fireand temperature changes.

According to Ma, porcelain tablets were used to duplicate threemanuscripts of the grottoes on a trial basis in 2002, which was a great success.

There are a total of 40,000 cultural relics including manuscripts, paintings and musical instruments that have been unearthed from the grotto, which cover the period from the fourth to the 11th century.

Many manuscripts are becoming yellowed with the passage of timeand threatened by bacteria and worms, Ma said.

Listed on the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1987,the grottoes were found in 1900 by a Taoist priest by the name of Wang Yuanlu.


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