Source: CCTV.com

08-08-2007 10:13

Special Report:   Cultural Heritage Day

One part of China's cultural heritage is not written in stone and that's part of the problem. As the country that was the birthplace of paper, China has a long tradition of committing the wisdom of the ancients to books. Many of the works have survived for centuries and as China has passed through centuries of its history, the condition of many of the books has deteriorated. Some of the world's most illuminating passages are all but lost to people of today. Now China's Ministry of Culture is urging the committal of more funds and more vigorous effort into seeking out and restoring this ancient heritage.

Chinese experts are drafting a " List of Precious Ancient Books". It's a first step in a project that began earlier this year to protect and also to venerate the wisdom of China's ancestral forebears. The first part of the list will be announced by the end of this year.

It's the first investigation of its kind since 1949. Researchers will visit forgotten corners of libraries, museums, temples and through private collections all around the nation to enumerate the ancient works and evaluate their condition.

The project is scheduled for completion in 2010 by which time a complete record of China's most valuable archaic books and manuscripts will be established.

 

Editor:Liu Fang