“Hope China’s Cultural Relics Census Will Continue”

The ongoing First Census on China’s Moveable Cultural Relics is not only the first of its kind since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949， but also a landmark survey of Chinese culture. To learn more about arising difficulties， issues， utilization of new technology， and adoption of common international practices during the census， China Pictorial talked with Song Xinchao， deputy director of China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage， the executive body conducting the census.

China Pictorial （CP）： Relics held in private collections are not included in this census. Won’t that leave the results incomplete？

Song Xinchao （Song）： We’re covering plenty of cultural relics in our census. The schedule is already tight to complete in five years. That’s why institutional establishment， specifically the construction of a movable cultural relics registration system and management mechanism， is one of the major goals of the census. We have left two important tasks for the future： One is a census for certain stateowned cultural relics dated after 1949， and the second is an inventory of personally collected movable cultural relics. Once we establish the registration and management mechanism， it will enable individuals to complete online applications to authenticate their collections. We will conduct more research and investigation to find the optimal method to include private collections in the future.

I hope China will eventually establish a strict cultural heritage registration system similar to Japan’s. I also hope China’s census of moveable cultural relics， like France’s， will become “a systematic project to never cease.”

CP： What are the biggest difficulties or problems to arise during the census？

Song： So far， we’ve got two big concerns. First is the identification of cultural relics. Since cultural relics covered in this census are all state-owned， we’re not worried about items in major museums or state organs because they have already undergone authoritative screening and identification numerous times. However， for cultural relics collected by organizations at the grassroots level， it’s not so simple. Since many of these items need to be identified and it usually happens online， mistakes are inevitable. So when necessary， we will dispatch professionals for on-site identification.

Our second concern is related to budgeting and experts. The cost of the census is shared by the central and local governments. In some less developed areas， if local governments don’t allocate enough financial support to the census， work will be hindered. Also， the lack of professionals at grassroots levels is another thorny issue.

CP： You mentioned worries about online identification. How do you plan to solve that problem？

Song： We are preparing to tackle this problem in two ways： First， offer direct help to the grassroots organizations. When necessary， provincial-level cultural heritage organizations will provide on-site identification or guidance. Secondly， we’re emphasizing the training of local professionals. Already， such training is happening across the nation.

CP： You mentioned an important goal of this census is to construct a movable cultural relics registration and management mechanism. Since technology has been developing so rapidly these days， have you made any preparations to prevent your technology from becoming outdated before the census is even complete？ I understand that you will establish an online platform， when will it begin operation？

Song： Today， we’re using a lot of cloud computing and cloud storage. All of our work for this census， including logging in and data entry， happens on the platform. You could call it the cloud platform for the movable cultural relics census. As for this platform， in terms of technology， we can easily repair and upgrade the existing system. In terms of internet access， we will use the faster 4G network. The starting point of constructing the registration system and platform is based on users. We hope the cloud platform can provide access for more ordinary people who want to do things like search for information or make online applications.

We expect that by the end of 2014， the platform will be live for the general public to search for information. Two reasons contribute to my confidence. First， we already have plenty of statistics， including those we collected from cultural heritage organizations across the country over the past ten years. Second， some state organs have provided detailed information and data. Entering these statistics into the platform is our priority for 2014， to guarantee system availability to the general public by the end of this year.