An increased number of young people have applied for positions in restoration and conservation of cultural heritage at the Palace Museum over the past four years, Shan Jixiang, the former curator of the museum said on Wednesday.
Only 88 applicants were admitted out of more than 40,000 candidates this year, Shan noted, adding that only those with a master's degree from prestigious universities are qualified to sit the recruitment examination as requirements for applicants become stricter amid fierce competition.
Shan said he was happy with the increasing number of young visitors to the museum thanks to its innovative attempts to promote itself, as well as the Chinese culture, over the years.
"From January to March, the daily number of visitors to the Palace Museum surpassed 80,000, despite the off-season period,"?Shan noted, adding that "over 50 percent of the visitors are young people under the age of 30."
To be a cultural heritage conservator in the U.S. requires interdisciplinary education in fields of natural and social sciences, as well as some form of internship experience preferably on top of a master's degree, Ioanna Kakoulli of the University of California, Los Angeles told Reference News in an interview.
目前,加州大學洛杉磯分校文物保護碩士項目(Interdepartmental Program in Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials)開設的課程中就包含基礎化學、有機化學(Science Fundamentals in the Conservation of Materials)、材料科學(Cultural Materials Science)、藏品管理(Collections Management for Museums, Libraries and Archives)等跨學科內容。
According to China's National Cultural Heritage Administration, over half of the country's 30 million pieces of cultural relics are in need of restoration. However, qualified cultural conservators are less than 2,000 nationwide.
While more are aspiring for a job in the conservation of cultural heritage, the significant lack of talent may prove to be a stumbling block.