Heritage professionals 【小题1】 (stress) the role of technology in the protection of cultural heritage at this year’s first deputies’ passage interview on March 5, 2024, just before the second session of the 14th National People’s Congress.

Despite progress 【小题2】 (make) in the protection of the Yungang Grottoes, protection with greater use of technology is still 【小题3】 they need, said Hang Kan, a deputy to the 14th National People’s Congress, who is also a researcher with the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

According 【小题4】 Hang, the Yungang Grottoes from the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) had a huge cost in human, material and financial resources. A consolidation (整合) project on the 【小题5】 (danger) rock bodies was carried out for decades and ended in recent years. But the protection efforts may 【小题6】 (destroy) as the grottoes were carved in a Jurassic sandstone formation with complex geological conditions, and are threatened by weathering and water leakage.

He mentioned two technological 【小题7】 (measure) adopted in the protection of the grottoes were awarded at national-level scientific conferences, and they will intensify technological investment in the research of cave deterioration and 【小题8】 (develop) of protective materials in future work.

“Yungang Grottoes are a treasure of traditional Chinese culture,” said Hang. “We will give priority to protection and add more technological measures 【小题9】 (protect) them. We will continue to promote the research, display and utilization of the grottoes, do 【小题10】 good job in the inheritance of the cultural heritage so that more people can feel the charm of traditional culture.”

Horses, dragons, the Monkey King, and even Sponge Bob Square Pants—you probably wouldn’t expect to see this collection of animals and pop cultural icons flying together in the sky, 【小题1】 this happens every year in Weifang, the “World Kite Capital” in east China’s Shandong Province.

Kites, believed to be the earliest flying objects created by humans, 【小题2】 (invent) over 2,000 years ago in China. 【小题3】 (survive)many centuries, kites have become one of the country’s representative traditional handicrafts, 【小题4】 making techniques were included in the list of China’s national intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产) in 2006.

Weifang, known as a 【小题5】 (globe) center of kite culture, is widely regarded as the birthplace of these popular flying toys. The themes of Weifang kites are 【小题6】 (incredible) diverse, ranging from birds and fish to historical figures and legends.

Today in Weifang, there are virtually no limitations on the shapes or sizes of kites, which can be made 【小题7】 (represent) people’s ideals and desires. This 【小题8】 (diverse) can be observed at the annual Weifang International Kite Festival, which has been held on the 【小题9】 (three) Saturday in April since 1984. More than 10,000 participants 【小题10】 over 30 countries and regions around the world compete in the festival every year.

The Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi Province, 【小题1】 UNESCO World Heritage Site, have 45major caves and more than 59,000 Buddha statues, with a grotto complex about 1 km long from east to west.

【小题2】(current), a giant 3D printing reproduction of Cave No.3 at the Yungang Grottoes is 【小题3】 display at the Yungang Grottoes Art Museum in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province. This is the first time in the world that 3D printing technology 【小题4】(use) to reproduce such a large-scale cultural relic.

The identical reproduction strictly matches the 【小题5】(appear) and scale of the original. The copy of the cave measures 17.9 meters tall by 13.6 meters wide, while the main Buddha stands at 9.93 meters tall.

During the replication process, 3D technicians first 【小题6】(collect) some 10, 000 images of the cave and the Buddha to build up a digital model, 【小题7】 was then divided into 842 parts to be printed with multiple 3D printers. The final installation（安装） and coloring stages took the team three months 【小题8】(complete).

The reproduction not only allows people to get much 【小题9】(close) to the precious heritage items without damaging the original objects, but also helps to enhance the research, documentation, digitalization and preservation of the 【小题10】(relic) themselves.