Science for art's sake

As technology reshapes relic preservation, rural folks emerge as essential partners in sustaining cultural identity, Yang Feiyue reports in Changsha.

From digitized Buddhist caves to neutron-scanned relics, innovators are merging tradition and cutting-edge science to revive ancient treasures.

A towering projection of a 1,600-year-old Buddha from the Mogao Caves — a Silk Road treasure trove of Buddhist art — fills the screen as Tian Qinxin taps her tablet.

The audience gasps as the fresco's fading pigments are restored to their original brilliance from the scenes of The Summoning of Dunhuang that were presented by Tian, president of the National Theatre of China. The images on the screen created a vivid, time-traveling connection between the Dunhuang Academy's digital research center in 2035 and a painter from 1935, vividly bringing the past to life at the 2025 Cultural and Natural Heritage Day's theme forum in mid-June that showcased the powerful fusion of culture, history and technology.