Cultural Collection of Shaanxi

The Great Wall， The Place Museum （Forbidden City） and the Terra-Cotta Warriors have become the trinity of Chinese cultural relics and first stops for many tourists from abroad. Home to the Terra-Cotta Warriors and the cradle of Chinese civilization， Shaanxi Province held the capital seats of 14 of China’s ancient dynasties. In the grass outside Shaanxi History Museum stand stone animals dating back to the Tang Dynasty （618-907）， which would be reverently housed in the central hall of a small or medium-sized museum. In terms of both quantity and quality of the cultural relics， Shaanxi is unparalleled.

The only provincial-level pilot location for China’s First Census of Moveable Cultural Relics， Shaanxi boasts not only abundant cultural relics but also rich cultural relics surveying experience. Since 2006， Shaanxi has been promoting informatization management of cultural relics. By the end of 2007， information about over 100，000 relics held by museums across the province had been recorded and checked by China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage， making Shaanxi the first province to set up a database for relics. By the end of 2010， the database had 500，000 relic entries. A digital museum based on this data has opened to the public， the first of its kind in China.

The database built by Shaanxi Province mainly caters to academic study， with each entry including over 100 specifications， while in the census， each relic is required to label only 14 basic specs. So， adapting existing data is the main challenge facing Shaanxi. Also， the data Shaanxi collected focused on cultural and museum institutions. In the census， the scope extends to stateowned enterprises and public institutions. “With increasing relic value awareness and concepts， more items are included in the census， such as archives and art with historic or scientific value，”explains Jia Qiang， head of Museum and Social Relics Department at Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Heritage Bureau.

What’s more， the quantifier China traditionally employs for a book is “volume” and “pair” for shoes， but the census requires documenting exact counts of each piece of a single relic item. For instance， a pair of shoes is considered two items. This may seem simple and arbitrary， but it creates tremendous work for Shaanxi， which has innumerable massive bags of ancient coins. “Most coins， except the rare individual items， are recorded by the total weight of the container，” Jia reveals. “This results in continuing damage to the coins. Also， because of vagueness in records， it’s hard to know if any were lost or stolen.”

In 2009， Shaanxi began changing its documentation of coins. After considerable research， the province initiated a new method to record them. “In simple words， we assign the same serial num-ber to coins in the same category and count the exact quantity of those coins，” Jia continues. “In this way， we not only record the characteristics of all the coins， but also the exact quantity.” During the census， Xixiang County Cultural Center added 22，593 coins numbered 265 to the record and Baoji Municipal Bronze Ware Museum finished documenting one million coins， which had formerly been contained in 56 sacks.

As a pilot census province， Shaanxi established a lead group for the First Census of China’s Moveable Cultural Relics to handle important issues， invite experts to lecture about the census， and tackle problems census takers might meet. “To guarantee the accuracy of the census， we organized an expert group consisting of specialists and scholars from fields of archaeology， relics， ancient architecture， history， documents and technology to provide technique consultation and relic identification，” says Pang Bo， director of the Publicity Department of Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Heritage Bureau. “All of our experience will be shared nationwide.”

Setting a good example for the nationwide census， Shaanxi is also taking the lead in the relic restoration and protection. As the only international cooperative base sponsored by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology， the province has been working with Germany for 20 years to protect painted terra cotta warriors and build a world-class laboratory. In 1999， Shaanxi was granted a soft loan from the Italian government and began employing their experience in relic display， restoration and protection as well as personnel training to restore frescos in tombs of the Tang Dynasty. “In the exchange， we learned a lot of modern technology and concepts about fresco protection，” remarks Yang Wenzong， deputy director of Fresco Protection and Restoration Study Center at Shaanxi History Museum. “We will continue cooperating with our Italian counterparts and plan to join hands with Germany for further fresco protection.”

As for protection， local effort is as important as international exchange. “The public isn’t aware enough about the history and value of some relics，” explains Zhao Rong， head of Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Heritage Bureau. “For example， the protection of Dong Zhongshu’s tomb was neglected because the public didn’t know who he was. We hope more publicity can draw more people into museums to learn and experience history and cultural relics， which will raise their relic protection awareness.”