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Dunhuang Arts to Become Digital
China is applying modern digital technologies to preserve its ancient arts in the Dunhuang Grottoes in northwest province of Gansu.
By utilizing advanced digital cameras and computers, Chinese experts have developed a system particularly devoted to preserving these priceless cultural relics.
The images processed by the system are not only identical to the originals in size, but also are superior to the original ones in color and resolution, said Doctor Wang Xudong, an expert from the Dunhuang Research Academy.
The system, which took two years to develop with a funding of two million yuan from the Chinese government, will greatly facilitate the preservation and researches of Dunhuang arts, Wang said.
So far, all the frescoes and sculptures in four of the Mogao caves are stored on computers for posterity.
The remaining 488 caves of the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes and 42 caves in the Yulin Grottoes will be"digitalized" later.
The Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang, popularly known as the Thousand Buddha Caves, were carved out of the rocks stretching for about 1,600 meters along the eastern side of the Mingsha Hill, 25 km southeast of Dunhuang.
The first cave in the Mogao Grottoes was cut in 366 A.D. Despite erosion and human destruction, the 492 caves are well preserved, with frescoes covering an area of 45,000 square meters, more than 2,000 colored sculptured figures and five wooden eaves overhanging the caves.
As the greatest repository of Buddhist art in the world, Dunhuang Grottoes was listed as a World Heritage Site in 1987 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
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