In early summer, at the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute in Luoyang, Henan Province, "cultural relic doctor" Li Xinjian was holding professional cultural relic restoration tools and cleaning up the historical dust of a cultural relic fragment. For 27 years, this' cultural relic doctor 'has been committed to making this millennium old grotto group' beautiful 'forever. In recent years, Li Xinjian has led a team to undertake more than ten cultural relic protection projects in addition to restoring cultural relics and maintaining grottoes. In a meticulous manner, they have completed the cleaning and bonding of the Buddhist niche fragments, and under the guidance of Li Xinjian, they have begun to fill the gaps. The Longmen Grottoes, where these "cultural relic doctors" conduct daily consultations, were first excavated during the Northern Wei Dynasty. There are currently over 2000 niches and more than 100000 statues in existence. In November 2000, Longmen Grottoes were included in the The World Heritage List. A thousand years ago, the wisdom of ancient people amazed the world with the Longmen Grottoes. Since its construction, it has been plagued by natural erosion, crack seepage and other "diseases". Ma Chaolong, a research curator at Longmen Grottoes Research Institute, told reporters on the 20th that in the past 20 years, Longmen Grottoes have made significant breakthroughs in grotto protection and research, and have successively carried out "major repairs" on several grotto groups such as Fengxian Temple. For example, in 1971, the Longmen Grottoes began their first large-scale restoration. In 2021, Fengxian Temple was wrapped in scaffolding and protective nets, and put on a "surgical gown". In order to maintain the best "appearance" of Longmen Grottoes for the public, in addition to the restoration and repair of the main body, the means of protection and utilization are also constantly innovating. Nowadays, digital restoration technologies such as 3D printing have been applied to Longmen Grottoes. In some naturally collapsed niches, the "cultural relic doctors" of Longmen Grottoes Research Institute carry out 3D digital scanning, and 3D model and print the scanning results. The replicated "cultural relics" are then installed in the niches, achieving both restoration effect and protection of the cultural relics themselves. Zhang Guofeng and his team, who have been engaged in the digital protection of cultural relics for many years, have also created a "portrait" of the Longmen Grottoes in order to permanently preserve their "appearance". They have established a "digital archive" for the Longmen Grottoes through technologies such as 3D digital scanning. In the 1930s, reliefs and other literary works such as the "Emperor and Empress Worship to Buddha" were lost overseas. To this end, Longmen Grottoes Research Institute relies on high-precision digital resources to carry out virtual restoration of damaged cultural relics and virtual restoration of scattered cultural relics. Collaborating with institutions such as Xi'an Jiaotong University and the University of Chicago in the United States to collect three-dimensional data on scattered cave fragments worldwide. Zhang Guofeng introduced that currently, the "Empress Worship Buddha Picture" displayed in the United States and the "Digital Resurrection" of the remaining relief walls and cultural relics fragments in the Binyang Middle Cave of Longmen Grottoes have been brought to life, allowing their true "appearance" to be revealed. He said that compared with early recording methods such as drawing, flipping, and black and white photos, 3D digital scanning can achieve a restoration error of less than 0.03 millimeters without touching the cultural relics themselves, and there is almost no difference in color. In the view of Yu Jie, Secretary of the Party Committee of Longmen Grottoes Research Institute, whether it is the restoration of cultural relics or the establishment of "digital archives", the purpose is to "restore" or "move" immovable cultural relics, let more people understand Chinese grotto culture, and make historical and cultural heritage last for generations. (New Society)