China Taps Digital Tech to Save Thousand-year-old
Cliff Inscriptions

Beijing, 11 May (ONA) — On a
cliffside in southern China, ancient inscriptions weathered by more than 1,000
years are being rediscovered, not with chisels, but with code.

The Wuxi Stele Forest in Yongzhou,
Hunan Province, is one of China’s most remarkable open-air repositories of
carved texts. Over 500 inscriptions, etched into cliff faces and stone tablets
from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) through the early 20th century, bear witness to
centuries of poetry, politics, and devotion to the art of the written word.

At the heart of the site stands the
inscription of the “Da Tang Zhong Xing Song” (literally “Ode to
the Restoration of the Great Tang Dynasty”), originally composed in 761 by
poet Yuan Jie. At Yuan’s invitation, master calligrapher Yan Zhenqing
transcribed the text in 771 for engraving on the cliff face. The result,
celebrated for its brilliant prose, masterful calligraphy, and the exceptional
quality of the cliff stone, has been revered for centuries as an example of the
“Three Perfections” among cliff inscriptions.

That inscription proved catalytic.
For more than a millennium, inspired by Wuxi’s dramatic scenery and the
cultural gravity of the Ode, scholars, poets and officials continued to leave
behind verse and commentary carved into the surrounding rock. Together, they
created a layered archive of Chinese intellectual and aesthetic history.

But Wuxi’s stone heritage is under
threat. After centuries of exposure to wind, rains and biological erosion, many
of the inscriptions have faded into near invisibility. For conservators, the
task to preserve what remains and recover what has already slipped from sight
has become urgent.

Now, a team of digital
preservationists in Changsha is leading the effort. Under the title
“Revitalizing China’s Stone Inscriptions through Digitization,” the
project is giving new life to Wuxi’s weatherworn texts, Xinhua news agency
reported.

The project is not only reviving
what was fading, but also reimagining how people engage with it.

At the on-site digital museum,
visitors can browse digitally enhanced replicas of the site’s steles, try
simulated stone carving, interact with a digital Yuan Jie, and visit a gift
shop featuring 3D-printed mementos. The museum has become a popular destination
for families and students.

— Ends/Khalid