They're men like Shen Xieyuan and Yang Laijing.
The minguo books were printed on paper using Western papermaking methods. Thus, the repair procedures are similar to the West.
But for ancient Chinese books,
the way to restore them is unique. They are usually worn out on the
edges. To repair the pages, a new piece of paper is stuck at the back of
the original piece. This is done as the pages are printed only on one
side.
"Our equipment and skills in
restoring ancient Chinese books surprise even visiting foreign experts,"
says Chen Xujun, director of the repair center under the library's
Historical Archives Department.
Chen says though worm holes can
be fixed by machine, the library only trusts its rare books in the
hands of experienced repairers like Yang.
"Yang is so experienced that he
only needs to touch and look at a book to be able to tell the date of
publication and edition," Chen adds.
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