Recently, a reporting meeting on the results of the work within the framework of the preliminary survey project for the joint Chinese-Kyrgyz protection of the Ak-Beshim settlement was held at the National Historical Museum of Kyrgyzstan. The ruins of Ak-Beshim are located in Kyrgyzstan and are part of the “Silk Roads: the Routes Neetwork of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor”, a UNESCO World Heritage site jointly submitted by China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. According to legend, this is where Li Bo, the great Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), was born.
The event was jointly organized by the Dunhuang Academy and the Ministry of Culture, Information and Youth Policy of Kyrgyzstan. This project was carried out jointly by expert groups from China and Kyrgyzstan, and a number of prliminary works has been completed, including a study of the status quo of the Ak-Beshim ruins, an analysis of degradation processes, and the development of a conservation plan, which served as a scientific basis for the subsequent conservation and use of the site. At the meeting, the parties reached consensus on the specific tasks of the next stage of work focused on Ak-Beshim.
Back in 2017, the Dunhuang Academy had already signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Kyrgyzstan counterpart and sent experts to the ancient settlement in the Naryn region of Kyrgyzstan to study the possibilities of its preservation. This year, the Chinese-Kyrgyz Joint Laboratory for the Protection of Cultural Heritage was founded.
According to the director of the Dunhuang Academy, Su Bomin, in recent years, the parties, relying on the research platform of the academy and its experience in the field of conservation, have carried out a range of scientific work on the territory of the Ak-Beshim settlement, including monitoring of destructive processes, digital 3D modeling, environmental analysis and ecological mapping of plant communities. According to him, the new joint lab will focus on key technical issues in the field of cultural heritage protection along the Silk Road and serve the heritage protection practices of the Belt and Road Initiative participating countries to become a high-level international scientific research cooperation platform.
Source: Xinhua News Agency