China News Service, Taiyuan, September 22. Title: "Cross-border" education in literature, art, science and engineering: the ten-year journey of a "unpopular secret"
Author Fan Lifang Li Jinyang
From the first enrollment of only 30 students in 2016 to the enrollment of 90 students in 2026, Taiyuan University of Technology's cultural relic protection and restoration major has gone through 10 years amid doubts that "restoration is a matter for craftsmen" and "graduation means unemployment." From 30 to 90 people, it’s not just the numbers that have changed.
Questioned "artisan work"
Shanxi has more than 53,000 immovable cultural relics and 531 national key cultural relics protection units. It is known as "Shanxi Province is known for its above-ground cultural relics". The popularity of the game "Black Myth: Wukong" has brought Shanxi cultural relics to the attention of all parties, and also made more people realize that the protection of cultural relics is an indispensable part of inheriting the roots of history.
Cui Peipei, director of the Department of Cultural Heritage at Taiyuan University of Technology, said that at present, the cultural preservation major lacks compound talents with "traditional skills + modern technology". "It is really difficult to start the profession, but cultural preservation is valuable for history, scientific research, and inheritance, and we must persist."
In 2026, the "15th Five-Year Plan for Educational Development" issued by the State Council clearly proposed the expansion of undergraduate enrollment in "double first-class" universities; in June 2026, the General Office of the Shanxi Provincial People's Government issued the country's first provincial-level regulatory document for the systematic protection of cultural relics.
In addition to policies, young people’s choices are also changing. Among the freshmen majoring in cultural relics protection and restoration in the class of 2026, there are Zhang Zidong, who fell in love with cultural relics protection because of the documentary "I Repair Cultural Relics in the Forbidden City", and Lin Yishu, who loves handicrafts and is looking for a compatibility between her interests and her profession.
The number of students enrolled will increase from 60 in 2025 to 90 in 2026. Taiyuan University of Technology’s enrollment expansion this time is riding on the wave of national requirements, provincial plans, schools’ response, and students’ needs.
Based on practice, theory "crosses borders"
The cultural relic protection and restoration major is known as the "least artistic major". Based on the interdisciplinary nature of disciplines, Taiyuan University of Technology has established a faculty with multi-disciplinary backgrounds such as chemistry, materials, history, art, architecture, etc., and gradually explored a talent training model of "theoretical teaching + field practice + digital empowerment".
“If you only know theory but not practice, it doesn’t count.” Cui Peipei said that the practical class hours of the cultural relic protection and restoration major accounted for more than 35% of the total class hours.
Cultural preservation units in Shanxi are scattered and have various types of remains. Teams of teachers and students visited and surveyed on the spot to record the current status of the cultural relics. In the past five years, more than 10 teachers from the school have led more than 200 students to more than 60 cultural protection units, covering Shanxi, Sichuan, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Henan and other places.
It is this combination of practice and theory that gives Yan Zhenrui, a 2021 cultural protection graduate, the confidence to persevere, "We can have a smooth future."
"Unpopular secrets" with warmth
After 10 years of development from scratch, the cultural relic protection and restoration major of Taiyuan University of Technology now stands at a new starting point.
Currently, digital technology is changing the way cultural relics are protected. Kang Feng, deputy dean of the School of Architecture and Art of Taiyuan University of Technology, introduced that the team innovated technological protection methods for cultural relics, comprehensively using three-dimensional laser scanning, oblique photogrammetry and other technologies to establish digital twin files for cultural relics. It also used AI and GIS (geographic information system) spatial analysis technology to achieve multi-dimensional risk assessment of cultural heritage thermal environment, pollutant diffusion and precipitation erosion, and promote the shift of cultural relics protection from passive restoration to active prevention.
Zhan Shaohan, a 2025 student majoring in cultural preservation, was born in Datong, Shanxi, a city full of cultural relics and historic sites. This was also his earliest classroom.
At a seminar on mural protection and technological innovation in Shanxi, Shaohan Zhan once witnessed the sad expression of a cultural relics expert when he mentioned that extreme weather caused the Giant Buddha in Cave 18 of the Yungang Grottoes to "cold". "I realized that every cultural relic is a historical carrier with warmth, life, and stories." Shaohan Zhan said that this also strengthened his belief in protecting cultural relics.
Just as what Shi Wenzheng, dean of the School of Architecture and Art of Taiyuan University of Technology, expects during the freshman admission season: "Freshmen must master basic professional knowledge, hone their practical skills, clarify their growth direction, and figure out their own future development path. We are also actively going out of China to exchange and discuss with other foreign institutions. Going out is to come back better."
