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"Those who do the job should be humble and have a presence of mind to sit behind desk, despite how alluring the outside world is," said 59-year-old Shan Jiajiu, an ancient painting and calligraphy restoration specialist at the Palace Museum in Beijing.

Shan Jiajiu restores a painting from Qing Dynasty. [A still image from China Central Television]

Shan has been doing this job for 38 years, with nearly 200 decayed ancient paintings and calligraphies being restored out of her hands. The renovation of a piece is a complicated and long process. From her experience, the longest period can last for one year, the shortest three months.

An ancient painting or calligraphy has four layers of paper or other materials as its structure. One is the layer of painting itself, called Huaxin, the other paper layer sticking to Huaxin is called Tuoxin paper, and another two layers of paper behind Huaxin and Tuoxin are backing papers.

"The hardest step is to separate Huaxin from Tuoxin Paper," said Shan after she peels off two layers of backing papers. "One mistake will destroy the ancient painting."

The total thickness of Huaxin and Tuoxin papers measures at 0.22 mm. At first, scraps of Tuoxin paper are stripped from Huaxin. Gradually, the scraps that stick hardest to Huaxin cannot be stripped off but have to be rubbed off with fingers.

"It needs to be done very carefully, just like treading on thin ice," said Shan with her eyes and even her whole body absorbed in where her finger was moving.

"It all depends on this hand. The feeling and the skills cannot be achieved in one or two days," she said. "It is what I practiced and accumulated in the last 38 years."

One of the most difficult ancient paintings she restored was a silk painting, called Two Cranes and a Flock of Birds, from Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The time had made many silk threads embrittled and disjointed, leaving more than a thousand small holes on the silk painting.

Shan had to find and connect every broken thread. It took her six months to separate the painting and mend the holes.

There is another simpler way to restore silk painting. If a new dyed silk is stuck to the ancient silk painting without mending the holes, a painting will look same as the mended one in just two days.

But several hundred years later, the silk will decay and be mix with the ancient silk painting, which means the latter can never be renovated again. The ancient silk painting is destroyed then.

"If I use the simpler way of restoration, descendants will condemn us," said Shan.

"The job tests conscience," she said, "It is very difficult for a cultural relic to live today. We have to inherit it, pass it on and let our generation after generation see it. It is our duty."

A new piece of work is completely restored and is rolled out for washing away the dust. It is a painting from Qing Dynasty.

"It is beautiful," said Shan with a satisfied smile the moment it is put up. "Every time I complete a piece, I feel a sense of achievement."

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