tang yuyang: preserving the most authentic appearance of the great wall
2024-08-31
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"on may 14 this year, general secretary xi jinping wrote back to the villagers of shixia village, encouraging them to encourage more people to understand and protect the great wall, and pass on this precious treasure left by their ancestors from generation to generation. this also inspired me, because i started my work in protecting the great wall in shixia village." tang yuyang, executive vice president of the beijing great wall culture research institute and professor at beijing university of civil engineering, has been engaged in great wall protection for nearly 20 years. her first investigation of the great wall started in shixia village.
in 2005, the state administration of cultural heritage organized cultural relics and surveying personnel to "check the physical condition" of the great wall for the first time nationwide. tang yuyang, who was teaching at the department of architecture of beijing university of architecture at that time, participated in the great wall resource survey. "we were responsible for the survey of the entire yanqing district and some sections of miyun district in beijing. the first stop of the survey was the great wall of shixia village. due to the steep terrain of the great wall, local cultural relics workers and villagers would lead the way for us. when we returned every night, the villagers would pick us up and take us down the mountain. over time, we all became friends," said tang yuyang.
△on august 27, the weather in beijing was fine. the jiankou great wall and other great wall landscapes combined the lushness of summer and the coolness of autumn, making them even more spectacular and charming. photo by xinhua news agency reporter chen yehua
this survey of the resources of the great wall has enabled all sectors of society to have a detailed understanding of the overall distribution of the great wall resources in china, and a more systematic great wall protection project has been launched. tang yuyang has also forged an indissoluble bond with the great wall since then. in the past 20 years, she has led her team to walk nearly 45% of the total length of the great wall in my country.
in 2019, the ministry of culture and tourism and the state administration of cultural heritage jointly issued the "great wall protection master plan" (hereinafter referred to as the "plan"). regarding the protection and maintenance of the great wall, the "plan" clearly states that the principles of not changing the original state, minimal intervention, prevention first, classified protection and graded protection must be adhered to. in order to reduce intervention in the great wall, engineering intervention measures can only be taken when preventive protection measures cannot solve safety problems. the goal of protection and maintenance is to "properly protect the authenticity, integrity and vicissitudes of the great wall's historical style."
the principle of "minimum intervention" is also the concept that tang yuyang has always adhered to in the protection and repair of the great wall. "the plan clearly states that the great wall is a cultural heritage with ancient ruins and ancient buildings coexisting, with ancient ruins as the main part. the great wall itself contains rich historical information, as well as traces of changes in the natural environment. we cannot erase all this information during repair, but we must protect the safety and existing state of the great wall as much as possible." when participating in various seminars, tang yuyang repeatedly conveyed this view to everyone.
in 2021, in order to further strengthen the research on the protection of the great wall, beijing took the lead in launching the great wall protection research and repair project in the country. the dazhuang section of the great wall in yanqing district and the jiankou great wall in huairou district became the first batch of pilot projects. tang yuyang's team is responsible for promoting the dazhuang section great wall project. preserving the most authentic state of the great wall is a highlight of tang yuyang's team's research and repair. the repair of the dazhuang section great wall changed the previous rough practice of treating the collapsed part as "construction debris" for cleaning, and took all the relics seriously, including exploring the time sequence of the gradual collapse of the great wall wall.
"how can we make the repaired great wall safe while retaining its historical vicissitudes? our team often discusses this with the beijing archaeological department and the repair team. during the repair, we try not to add any new bricks or stone components. we clean up the bricks and stones of the collapsed parts and reuse them in different parts. we hope to express the research and understanding of contemporary cultural relics protection workers while preserving the historical vicissitudes of the great wall." tang yuyang said.
the repair workers did not understand this at first, but through constant communication and coordination, they gradually understood this idea. "not only is our communication becoming more and more efficient, but the workers will also come up with new plans to handle different types of repair work based on actual conditions. the collision of different ideas is also a process of mutual improvement, which also allows us to have a deeper understanding of the protection of the great wall." tang yuyang said.
the work of protecting the great wall is arduous. when surveying the han great wall in juyan, inner mongolia, tang yuyang encountered a "raid" of sandstorms. "our car was driving in front, and the sandstorms were chasing us from behind." to this day, she still thinks the scene was very thrilling. therefore, tang yuyang attaches great importance to the power of teamwork. "in the early stage of the dazhuangke great wall project, we made a general research project plan and a professional cooperation framework diagram, and determined that the research mainly involved three aspects: the great wall itself, the great wall diseases, and the great wall's environment. when working on site, there are professional research teams in disciplines such as archaeology, surveying and mapping, structure, materials, and plants. design and construction are also closely integrated and fully involved." tang yuyang introduced.
"the great wall we see today is the result of the hard work of many of its guardians. such stories should be seen by more people. if we can introduce the restoration story of the great wall to everyone in the form of exhibition boards on the restored section of the great wall, i think the great wall culture will be richer and more real." today, tang yuyang, who is in his seventies, is still working on the front line of great wall protection.
"what i do is what i love. how can i feel tired when doing something i like?" tang yuyang said with a smile. even if he can't walk one day, he will still put his thoughts on the protection of the great wall into words to inspire more people to think.
new media editor: yang mingzhu (intern)
