A copy of a Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) mural at Cave 428 in the Mogao Caves by Chang Shuhong.  [Photo by Fang Aiqing for China Daily]

Embracing technology

As early as in the 1980s, Chang Shuhong had foreseen the potential of digitalization in cultural relics conservation.

Pan Yunhe, academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and former principal of Zhejiang University, who joined the initial digitalization exploration of the Mogao Caves, recalls his first meeting with Chang Shuhong in 1982.

At that time, Chang Shuhong was among the jury of Pan's first academic program, which pioneered in generating patterns with artificial intelligence. Chang Shuhong expressed interest in preserving the murals of Dunhuang with a digital approach, visiting Pan's laboratory and discussing the feasibility.

"He was open-minded and very sensitive to new things. Ahead of his time, he could always absorb new things into his own creation," Pan says, adding that Chang Shuhong was very kind and gentle to young people like him, who was at that time in his 30s.

In 1998, the Dunhuang Academy and Zhejiang University launched an academic program led by Pan and sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China to explore preservation, research and utilization of the Mogao Caves on a digital basis.