It was thanks to the craftsmanship of the book repair experts at the National Library of China that 161 volumes of the Yongle Encyclopaedia were restored in time for their 600th birthday this year.

Zhang Ping, researcher and curator of the Rare Books Department of China National Library in Beijing, adds the final touches to the Yongle Encyclopaedia, a Ming Dynasty classic now being restored. [China Daily]

The Rare Books Restoration Centre is a sanctuary in the library. Almost nobody but the 13 staff who work there are permitted to set foot in the centre.

The centre consists of three spacious workshops, each furnished with several long, expansive working tables at which staff work quietly and concentratedly. The furniture is plain and rather old.

"I feel it is a great honour to be able to participate in the restoration of the Yongle Encylopaedia. It's not likely you often have the chance to contribute to history like this," said Du Weisheng, who at 51 years of age is the most senior of the team.

The National Library has four invaluable items in its collection: the Dunhuang scrolls, the Siku Quanshu (Complete Library of the Four Branches), the Grand Buddhist Scriptures of the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) from Zhaochen, an ancient city in today's Shanxi Province, and the Yongle Encyclopaedia.

Of the four treasures, the Complete Library of the Four Branches is in the best condition and not in need of repair. The Scriptures were restored in 1965, while the Dunhuang scrolls are too badly damaged and consist of too many pieces to be repaired in the near future.

Tang Yinhua (front right) is one of the trainees from outside Beijing who has come to learn how to repair ancient Chinese books.

As a result, the Yongle Encyclopaedia, of which the library keeps 161 volumes, was the one most suitable for restoration.

When talking about the particulars in his job, Du uses the precise and passionate language of a perfectionist: "The principle of our work is to restore a book as it originally was, but definitely not to renew or transfigure it. Any other way would be an unforgivable attempt to tamper with history."

To illustrate this point, Du provides an example. Some of the pages of the Yongle Encyclopaedia carry scorchmarks from when the allied forces of the eight Western powers raided Beijing and burnt several volumes in 1900.

"The burn marks should definitely be left alone because they represent a significant part of the book's history," he said.

Unexpected challenges

However, in a trade as exacting as ancient book restoration, a perfectionist faces many challenges. And those charged with the task of restoring the Yongle Encyclopaedia often encountered unexpected difficulties.

Zhang Ping, the head of the team, recalls some of those trials. "Given our past experience, we hadn't anticipated we would still have trouble," he said.

For instance, when the team searched for a fabric to mend the Yongle Encyclopaedia's cover, they discovered the original cloth used was not only unusual but no longer available.

"If we couldn't find the proper material for everything, the project would have to be aborted," Zhang said.

During last year's summer heatwaves, Zhang rode his bicycle along the streets of Beijing all day, hunting for a suitable material in the city's fabric stores.

Yongle Encyclopedia, before(below)and after(above) repair. [China Daily]

Eventually, while trying his luck for a second time in Ruifuxiang, one of the oldest cloth stores in Beijing, he came across a special kind of raw silk similar to the one used in the encyclopaedia.

"It was a great relief to all of us," Zhang said.

Another difficulty arose when the team tried to make cover plates to substitute for those that were inexpertly restored in the past and were now rotten.

These new plates, made in autumn, consisted of about 50 layers of Xuan paper glued together.

But to the team's great dismay, the plates they spent more than one month working on dehydrated and shrank when the building's central heating started operation in mid-November. They admitted they hadn't thought to take account of the changes in room temperature and humidity during the repair work.

The result was after-hours work for two months for the whole team.

"Nobody complained," Du said. "We were more or less remorseful, for everyone knew the project means a lot to the library."

Younger hands

What concerns the centre's staff most about their profession is that there are so many ancient, rare books that need immediate attention and so few people skilled enough to restore them.

The National Library alone owns more than 2 million ancient books. Of those, about 200,000 need immediate restoration. "Yet our 13-member team can only repair about 1,000 a year. That's about 0.5 per cent a year," said Du.

"It is estimated there are no more than 100 practitioners of this profession around China. Most work in libraries," Du added.

The profession is also ageing. The youngest employee at the National Library's Restoration Centre is now 39 years old and has worked there for 21 years.

"These days people are more and more reluctant to learn the trade. The job is unattractive in many respects. It requires one to have abundant patience, modesty, a temperament suited to working alone, and an acceptance of mediocre payment," Du said.

And restoring ancient books is far more than patching and cobbling.

"It takes learning in many fields for someone to succeed in this career," said Su Pinhong, vice-director of the Rare Book Department of the library.

For example, a master in ancient book restoration must be a connoisseur of paper and fabrics, so that he or she knows what material to use for repairs.

And he or she is, more often than not, an expert on bibliography, able to discern when a book was published from its edition and printing style.

Sometimes the leaves of a book are loose, and marks indicate the pages are damaged, so a restorer must be able to read ancient Chinese very well to sort them out in sequence.

And when the pictures are damaged or indistinct, it helps if he or she knows also how to paint to add strokes and colours where they are needed.

"The trouble is we do not have an institute to train professionals. In the past, all of us learned through apprenticeships. But now everybody enters the library with a specific and complete education. No one would choose to come here to learn from scratch," said Su.

But the centre's staff also harbour a sense of optimism.

"We feel we are receiving much more attention from the authorities and society. The work of our centre has in recent years always been listed among our library's most important tasks," said Zhang Ping.

The centre is resting its hopes on a partnership proposal with Capital United University.

It is negotiating with the university's technical school to co-host an education programme on ancient book restoration.

"We will teach them and let them be trained in our workshops on probation. Only with such a regular supply of staff can the profession flourish," said Zhang.

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