Chinese experts will begin reparation work on a 700-year-old handwritten copy of the Koran, the sacred book of Islam, this week in northwest China's Qinghai Province.

The 867-page two-volume set, the oldest of its kind known in China, is written in Arabic and stored in two caskets in the Jiezi mosque in Xunhua County.

It was brought to China when the Salar ethnic group moved east from Maracanda, the ancient name of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, about 700 years ago. Experts believe it was completed before the 13th Century.

"The books have been seriously eroded and are in danger of rotting," said Ma Weimin, deputy director of the Qinghai Provincial Cultural Heritage Bureau.

"We will clean up marks and mildew stains, and mend its broken pages," said Ma. Two of the experts commissioned to help repair the Koran are from the Nanjing Museum in East China's Jiangsu Province and the others are from Qinghai.

The repairs should take about one month. The State Cultural Heritage Administration has allocated 440,000 yuan (US$55,000) to the project.

The restored Koran will be put on display in a transparent case in an exhibition center beside the mosque. Experts also plan to make a duplicate for daily exhibition use.

(Xinhua News Agency August 29, 2006)