INTERNET giant Tencent is taking further steps for the in-depth protection and promotion of ancient cultural relics through an upgraded digitalization partnership with the Dunhuang Research Academy, an institute tied to the UNESCO World Heritage site Mogao Grottoes in Gansu Province. Under a renewed three-year collaboration unveiled Friday, the two parties will set up a joint working group that uses artificial intelligence technologies to detect hazards endangering frescos, in order to ensure their preservation and repair. The Tencent Multimedia Lab will also develop an immersive remote consultation system using a 360-degree display of 4K ultra clear images, so that experts from different regions can clearly view scenes and conduct remote consultation. The two sides also pledged to jointly launch a digital replica project to digitally display and promote cultural relics in the Sutra Cave, among the most well-known caves in the Mogao Grottoes, enhance cultural exchanges with overseas institutes that house Dunhuang-related relics and advance the Belt and Road Initiative via cultural platforms. Tencent Pictures, Tencent Manga and China Literature Group will also set up an animation studio to create a 30-episode animation series based on the classic murals in Mogao Grottoes. Zhao Shengliang, Dunhuang Research Academy president, said that he hopes to improve the digital collection and presentation of Dunhuang cultural relics with the help of the Internet, so that these cultural relics can be viewed in more vivid and diversified forms. In 2017, Tencent and the Dunhuang Research Academy joined hands for the first time to initiate a digital Silk Road plan, and launched the “Digital Donor” charity program and a series of tech-enabled cultural projects. (Zhang Yu) |