In Tibet, there are about 30 people specializing in restoring Tibetan ancient books. "Post-90s" youth of Moinba ethnic minority Pasang Tseten is one of them.
In 2014, Pasang Tseten was admitted to Jinling Institute of Science and Technology in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, where he studied ancient book restoration with Zhou Suyang, a famous ancient book restorer in China. "Zhou is very kind to me. In addition to class time, she always uses spare time to teach me painting mounting and ancient book restoring techniques. If there is a chance for us to go out of campus to practice, she will take us out as much as possible." Pasang Tseten said.
In the summer of 2017, Pasang Tseten was fortunate to be the apprentice of Tamdrin, a senior engineer in the Technical Restoration Section of the Archives (Bureau) of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Since then, he has had more opportunities to get in touch with ancient Tibetan books.
Years of study and practical experience have made Pasang Tseten familiar with the reading and writing of Tibetan and Chinese, as well as the restoration of related paper such as Chinese art paper, wolf poison paper, and vellum paper.
At the end of 2021, Pasang Tseten and his partner Zhu Hongtao set up an ancient book restoration studio in Lhasa. He said: "The restoration of ancient books requires the sincerity and hard work of generations. I am honored to be one of them, and I hope more and more ancient books can get new life in the hands of young people."
However, a group of people in white protective suits never stop shuttling between the tarmac...