Restoration project at Buddhist grottoes completed in Henan, China

STORY: Restoration project at Buddhist grottoes completed in Henan, China DATELINE: July 22, 2022 LENGTH: 00:01:07 LOCATION: ZHENGZHOU, China CATEGORY: CULTURE SHOTLIST: 1. various of the restoration project 2. SOUNDBITE (Chinese): SHI JIAZHEN, Director of Longmen Grottoes Research Institute STORYLINE: A restoration project of Longmen Grottoes, a world cultural heritage site in China's Henan, has been completed. The project was launched in Dec. 2021 to treat water seepage and reinforce rocks at the Fengxian Temple, the largest cave of Longmen Grottoes. Water seepage and perilous rock bases are the two factors that threaten the existence of cultural relics in the grottoes. SOUNDBITE (Chinese): SHI JIAZHEN, Director of Longmen Grottoes Research Institute "The cultural relics protection project should proceed in a scientific way. It's not easy to build scaffolds here, so we have tried our best to accomplish three types of work with it. (Apart from the restoration) we have also conducted a general survey o

Gold, colored glass found on Buddhist statues in Longmen Grottoes

STORY: Gold, colored glass found on Buddhist statues in Longmen Grottoes DATELINE: June 2, 2022 LENGTH: 00:01:18 LOCATION: ZHENGZHOU, China CATEGORY: CULTURE SHOTLIST: 1. various of the Buddhist statues at the Longmen Grottoes STORYLINE: Archaeologists have found gold and silver elements and colored glass on Buddhist statues at the Longmen Grottoes, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in central China's Henan Province. The findings, among other scientific and archaeological achievements, have been made since a reinforcement and protection project of the Fengxiansi Cave of Longmen Grottoes was launched in December 2021, said the Longmen Grottoes research institute. Based on advanced technologies, archaeologists found gold and silver elements on the face of Vairocana Buddha, a giant statue that was built in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). "It suggests that skills such as gilding had probably been used in the construction of the Vairocana Buddha," said Shi Jiazhen, president of the institute. On the body surface of