Mounting and Restoration Craftsmanship

Ⅷ-136Traditional CraftsmanshipZhongguoshudianBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

"Repairing the old as it was," turning decay into wonder, is a crucial link in protecting ancient books through the ages and enabling their complete transmission to the present; thus people from all circles have praised this craft as the "life-prolonging broth" of ancient books. Engaging in ancient-book restoration requires not only familiarity with the formats and editions of books from each dynasty, but also understanding of the paper, book covers, and binding styles of each period, and moreover a consummate skill. The National Library of China is a comprehensive research library and the national central repository as well as the national bibliographic center; its collections date back to the Southern Song dynasty and include numerous precious rare ancient books. In 1949, to restore the "Zhaocheng Tripitaka," a national-treasure Buddhist canon that had just entered the collection of the Beiping Library, and with the approval of the then military control commission, a restoration team of eight technicians was formed—the predecessor of today's National Library restoration group. In 1953 the "Book Repair and Finishing Group" was formally established, and from then on ancient-book restoration, as a dedicated library function, embarked on a path of professionalized and standardized development. In 2001 the "Book Repair and Finishing Group" was renamed the "Rare Books and Special Collections Restoration Group." The National Library's document restoration work has achieved brilliant results historically; the national-treasure-level precious documents it has restored include the "Zhaocheng Tripitaka," the "Yongle Encyclopedia," Western Xia documents, part of the Dunhuang manuscripts, Song- and Yuan-dynasty rare editions, and the Qing-dynasty "Complete Book of Corvée and Taxation." It was opened during the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty; its proprietor was Ding Mengsong. Around the late Qing and early Republican period, Si Ya Tang was already extremely renowned in the capital for its mounting craft. In 1958 Si Ya Tang came under the China Bookstore. Three generations of mounting inheritors have since toiled there, rescue-restoring more than 300,000 damaged precious ancient books, among which are no few rare and unique editions.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Ancient-book restoration is a special craft. Over the long course of history, fragile ancient texts, having passed through scattering and changing hands as well as destruction by natural disasters and warfare, are mostly riddled with holes and utterly tattered. Repairing a single ancient book often requires a dozen or even dozens of process steps, each move meticulously exacting, and the demands on those engaged in ancient-book restoration are nearly stringent. The National Library's document restoration work has a long history; as early as the period of the Metropolitan Library it was already staffed with document restorers. It can be said that it is precisely thanks to the unremitting efforts of generations of National Library book restorers that the splendor of one national-treasure collection after another can be re-presented to the world. Beijing's Si Ya Tang is a century-old time-honored brand famed for mounting and restoring ancient books, stone rubbings, and paintings and calligraphy. In those days many of the capital's master mounters came from Si Ya Tang. Yet according to statistics, across the country library ancient-book restoration specialists number fewer than 100. Besides a severe shortfall in numbers, there are also problems of low overall quality, low professional titles, and advanced age.

Recorded Craft Procedures

Repairing a single ancient book often requires a dozen or even dozens of process steps, each move meticulously exacting, and the demands on those engaged in ancient-book restoration are nearly stringent.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The China Bookstore branch carries on the old line of Beijing's Si Ya Tang: the old shop was opened during the Guangxu reign of the Qing with proprietor Ding Mengsong, mounting and restoring ancient books, stone rubbings, and paintings and calligraphy; it joined the China Bookstore in 1958, and since then three generations of inheritors have restored here more than 300,000 rare and unique editions. Before restoring a book upon entering the shop one must first recognize its edition format; the paper quality, covers, and binding threads of the Yuan-edition "Comprehensive Mirror's Topical Narratives" and the Kangxi palace-edition "Grand Ceremony of the Imperial Visit to Qufu" differ from one another, so the repair methods naturally vary. Wang Xuejun, in his work, stresses "repairing the old as it was," and often runs training classes, bringing up young people such as Xu Xiaojing.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Mounting and Restoration Craftsmanship · Mounting and Restoration Craftsmanship · Mounting and Restoration Craftsmanship · Mounting and Restoration Craftsmanship · Mounting and Restoration Craftsmanship · Mounting and Restoration Craftsmanship.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

At present, the situation for the protection of ancient books is extremely grave. Currently, the ancient books in need of restoration across the country's libraries, museums, and cultural-relic management units exceed 10 million volumes/items. Protecting the ancient-book restoration craft is now an urgent imperative. Wang Xuejun (from the official archival records of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in May 1964, a native of Beijing. Representative inheritor of the fourth batch of the national-level intangible cultural heritage item, Mounting and Restoration Craft (Ancient-Book Restoration Craft). He participated in the restoration of numerous ancient books including the Yuan-edition "Comprehensive Mirror's Topical Narratives," the Ming-edition "Li's Collected Works: Continued Collected Works," and the Kangxi palace-edition "Grand Ceremony of the Imperial Visit to Qufu"; his technique is skillful and his methods standardized, adhering to "repairing the old as it was." Emphasizing craft transmission, he has held ancient-book restoration training classes many times and, together with other technicians, trained the apprentice Xu Xiaojing.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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