Riding the wind of rebirth

The provincial museum's collection is not limited to books; it also includes a large number of paintings, calligraphy manuscripts by famous people, and even prints, Thangkas and other artworks.

In the huge restoration room on the fifth floor, a group of staff members were restoring ancient books. On the four walls hung cloths that Zhouzhi was very familiar with, with some mottled New Year pictures and Thangkas hanging on them. These were semi-finished products with the backing already restored, waiting for touch-ups.

Beside a bookshelf in one corner, there was a huge pile of books, several cubic meters in size, which made Zhou Zhi frown.

"That's Li Diaoyuan's 'Han Hai,' which was just salvaged by the Guanghan Library. Because of the extensive damage and the difficulty of restoration, we transported it here, and the provincial library is organizing a team to restore it..."

The Han Hai, known as the "Encyclopedia of Sichuan and Chongqing," is a comprehensive collection of books compiled and published by Li Diaoyuan, a scholar from Sichuan during the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty. The book is divided into forty volumes and contains 163 kinds of rare classics from the Jin and Ming Dynasties as well as Li Diaoyuan's own works in 852 volumes. The content covers many fields such as classics, history, geography, and art. It also includes unpublished manuscripts by Yang Shen and writings by Sichuan and Chongqing literati.

It was first printed in the 46th year of the Qianlong reign, and several other versions appeared later. Zhou Zhi picked up a copy and flipped through it: "This is the Guanghan edition, published by Zhong Dengjia Ledaozhai in Guanghan, printed in the Guangxu reign."

"Yes, the original editions are in Anxian Library and Harvard-Yenching Library." Liu Yijie, who is also a librarian with a background in ancient book management, is quite knowledgeable about ancient books in Sichuan: "You can tell which version it is as soon as you pick it up, you're quite professional."

"The main reason is that the Guanghan edition of the Han Hai used Jiajiang bamboo paper. We put a lot of effort into restoring the Qing Dynasty-style sutra paper based on Jiajiang bamboo paper. The Guanghan edition of the Han Hai was an important specimen of bamboo paper at that time, so we have some understanding of it."

"Wow, what a boastful tone!" Before Liu Yijie could speak, a crisp, clear female voice rang out behind Zhou Zhi.

“Zhuoma, have some manners,” Liu Yijie stopped her, then introduced her to everyone with a wry smile: “This is Langri Zhuoma, our museum’s ancient book restorer. She previously restored the ‘Wuyou Lin Clan Genealogy’ from the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty. Her skills are superb and she has received national recognition.”

Genealogies and family records are also an important category of collections in the Sichuan Provincial Library. The history of a family or clan, when gathered together, forms a social panorama of that time and is also an important category of historical research.

However, although Liu Yijie's words sounded nice, Zhou Zhi knew very well that the praise was somewhat insincere. The reason was that the genealogy was not considered an important book in the collection, at least not as important as the pile of Han Hai in front of him. It was an entry-level assessment. It seemed that Liu Yijie recognized the young girl in front of him quite a bit, but had not yet given her any important responsibilities.

Although the girl was rather impolite, her words at her age sounded arrogant to anyone. Therefore, Zhou Zhi wasn't too angry about what others said about him. Instead, he was quite curious about a Tibetan girl who was dedicated to the restoration of traditional Chinese ancient books in the library.

Seeing Zhou Zhi's curious gaze, Liu Yijie continued, "Norri Zhuoma first studied Thangka painting at Qinghai Nationalities University. Later, due to her excellent grades, she went to Jilin Academy of Art and Design for further studies. After that, the Dunhuang Academy needed a compound talent who 'understands Tibetan, is proficient in Thangka, and is good at surveying and mapping' for mural restoration, so she studied with Dean Fan for nine years."

“Our museum has a large number of New Year pictures and Thangkas that need to be restored, and we also need talents like Zhuoma. After much effort, we were able to transfer her from Director Fan’s office to serve as our museum’s ancient book restorer.”

"You entered university in your teens?" The girl in front of me looks to be in her early twenties, definitely not even thirty. Subtract nine years in Dunhuang, two years in Jilin, and four years of undergraduate studies, so she must have been only a teenager when she entered Qinghai Nationalities University.

“Several generations of Zhuoma’s family have been masters of Thangka painting,” Liu Yijie said.

That explains it. With such a strong family tradition of learning from a young age, it's no wonder he was specially recruited as a talent. "Hello," Zhou Zhi extended his hand, "You're amazing, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Zhuoma refused to shake his hand and said in heavily accented Mandarin, "Director, why won't you let me revise the Compendium of Materia Medica?!"

"Well... Engineer Zhang, Engineer Zhang, you tell us!" Liu Yijie waved to a middle-aged man in a white coat.

“I think Zhuoma can join our team. The Compendium of Materia Medica has some difficulties, but we are working hard to solve them. With Zhuoma joining, we are more confident.”

"Old Zhang, you!" Liu Yijie was speechless. He had asked Zhang to stop her from joining the group, not to recruit her. What kind of attitude was this? "Zhuoma, your focus should still be on Thangka painting. Our museum is counting on you to take the lead in this area. That's the fundamental reason we recruited you."

“I can guarantee that I will complete the restoration of the Thangka,” Zhuoma said. “I can help Teacher Zhang with the restoration in my spare time.”

"Old Zhang, just tell me if you instigated this!" Liu Yijie was getting a little angry. Tibetan girls are honest, but young people's enthusiasm shouldn't be taken advantage of like this. As a senior, he should protect them.

“Isn’t this the only way out…” Zhang scratched his forehead: “The Compendium of Materia Medica now has two major problems: one is the issue of aging and color fixation, and the other is the special paper, which is thinner than the Jiajiang bamboo paper used for restoration, causing the paper to become too thick after restoration.”

"Didn't we invite the experts here for you?" Liu Yijie said, pushing Zhou Zhi in front of him: "Let me introduce you to everyone. This is Zhou Zhi, the developer of Jiajiang antique paper and the developer of silk replicas for restoration throughout history. The antique printing paper we use to restore Qing Dynasty books is the earliest paper type that he successfully replicated. The one who tied the knot must untie it."

Zhou Zhi roughly understood why Liu Yijie had been trying to cast a shadow of "you've wronged me" over him since they first met; the old guy was waiting for him here.

"Are you really an expert?" This time it was Zhuoma's turn to be shocked. She had just thought of this young man as someone who didn't know his place, especially since she had been repeatedly prevented from joining the group by the curator, while he was very polite to this young man. She was even more unconvinced and couldn't help but jump out to make sarcastic remarks.

This is because they were blinded by their own emotions and forgot to look at things from the other side—a person who receives such polite treatment from the curator must be an ordinary person.

"I can't be considered an expert," Zhou Zhi said politely with a smile. "With the skills of the old craftsmen at Jiajiang Bamboo Paper Factory, they could have replicated the antique paper we need long ago. It's just that Jiajiang Bamboo Paper Factory didn't find its market position and suffered a serious loss of talent, which led to a business crisis before."

"Now that we've started producing two new product categories—paper for ancient book restoration and high-end calligraphy and painting paper—the factory's profits have increased, and our processes have been restored. My role was simply to invest in the factory's upgrade and renovation and to propose relevant process requirements. The real researchers were the paper mill's veteran technicians."

"Zhouzi has restored the Qianlong edition of the *Dragon Canon*, the Qianlong *Complete Map of Sichuan* at the Sichuan University Museum, and even paintings by the Four Masters of the Six Dynasties. Don't listen to his empty modesty; just ask him any questions you may have." Liu Yijie was afraid that Zhuoma would take Zhou Zhi's humble words seriously, so he quickly added to his reputation. (End of Chapter)