A program aiming to preserve cliff carvings around Laoshan Mountain in Qingdao, Shandong, with rubbing techniques has processed 100 out of 270 discovered cliff carving works within the Laoshan Mountain scenic area since May.

Laoshan Mountain is not only a seaside mountain with breathtaking scenery, it also houses a rich cliff carving collection, created by political dignitaries and cultural celebrities over the centuries, including great Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai and Song Dynasty Taoist master Qiu Chuji.

Over the four months from May to September, a special team of rubbing skills and bibliography knowledge produced rubbings of more than 100 cliff carvings, most of which date back to Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. One of the finished works was the 20 poems depicting the mountainous views by Qiu Chuji.

The progress was made through hard work in challenging situations.

Shandong preserves cultural heritage at Laoshan [Photo/Qingdao Today]?

The working environment required the crew climb up the cliff with the support of a rope of a 2,000 kilogram weight capacity and put their knees against the cliff face to maintain balance. To gain better mobility across cliff faces while doing rubbing works, they trained under rock climbing experts before getting on with the task.

The actual rubbing process requires meticulous approaches.

In order to make the rice paper soft enough to apply closely to the carvings, it needs to be soaked in spring water one day ahead of the rubbing. After the paper dries on the surface of the rocks, team members use a pencil-shaped object, made of small pieces of cloth, to outline the strokes. And the final step is to remove the paper from the rock surface nice and slow.

One large cliff carving that measures three meters in height and more than 10 meters in width took four members of the team a whole day to complete. A total of 95 pieces of rice paper measuring 1.3 meters in length were used in the process.

Besides the physical works involved in the rubbing process, the team also examined the literature to correct previous misleading of the materials.

Shandong preserves cultural heritage at Laoshan [Photo/Qingdao Today]