Jiuhuashan: Bringing Cultural Relics to Life—Millennia-Old Treasures Embrace the Digital Age

Jiuhuashan: Bringing Cultural Relics to Life—Millennia-Old Treasures Embrace the Digital Age

A Fusion of Millennia-Old Treasures and Digital Technology
This year, Jiuhuashan has fully launched its cultural relics digitalization project. The project applies modern information technologies to digitally collect, process, and present the cultural heritage resources of the Jiuhuashan Scenic Area, aiming to revitalize ancient Jiuhua culture in the digital age.

As a National Scenic Area and one of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China, Jiuhuashan boasts profound cultural heritage. It is home to 208 immovable cultural relics, including 4 major sites under national-level protection, 7 under provincial-level protection, and 8 under municipal-level protection. In addition, there are more than 2,000 existing movable cultural relics, such as palm-leaf scriptures from the Ming Dynasty, the Tripitaka, blood scriptures, imperial edicts of the Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and calligraphy by the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty—rare and invaluable treasures. However, with the passage of time and environmental changes, traditional preservation methods can no longer meet comprehensive protection needs, making digital preservation increasingly urgent.

It is reported that the total investment in this cultural relics digitalization project amounts to 10.58 million yuan, mainly covering the digitalization of relic entities, the construction of a smart museum, the upgrading of digital exhibitions, and the installation of IT infrastructure and systems.

According to the person in charge of the Jiuhuashan cultural relics digitalization project:

“The project is progressing smoothly. Since its implementation, a systematic inventory of Jiuhuashan’s cultural heritage has been carried out, covering the entire scenic area, cultural relic protection zones, relic entities and their environments, as well as movable cultural relics. At present, the digital acquisition of immovable cultural relics has been basically completed, while the digitalization of movable relics is being carried out in an orderly manner, with an overall completion rate of about 65%. Next, a systematic data resource database for Jiuhuashan’s cultural heritage will be established, forming new-quality productive forces for digital cultural tourism. Typical application scenarios will be created for heritage management and operation, visitor services, and exhibition and promotion, laying a solid foundation for telling the cultural story of Jiuhuashan in a comprehensive and in-depth manner, and providing demonstration applications for the activation and utilization of digital cultural heritage assets in the future.”

The completed smart museum will establish both a public service platform and an operation management platform, enhancing service capabilities and operational efficiency while building a digital-intelligent operation system. In terms of digital exhibition upgrades, the project will rely on the museum’s physical exhibition spaces, integrating digital exhibits to create immersive digital exhibition experiences, presenting Jiuhuashan’s profound historical and cultural heritage from multiple perspectives. This will inject new momentum into the integrated development of culture and tourism and help strengthen the Jiuhuashan brand.

The head of the Cultural Affairs Division of the Jiuhuashan Scenic Area stated:
“The Jiuhuashan cultural relics digitalization project aims to build a cloud-based digital archive, providing a digital foundation for cultural relic protection, historical research, exhibition, and innovative utilization. While showcasing Jiuhuashan’s rich historical and cultural heritage from multiple perspectives, it also promotes the integration of digital technology with the cultural tourism industry, further facilitating the transformation toward an experience-oriented cultural consumption economy. It is expected that by the end of this year, visitors to Jiuhuashan will be able to break through the limitations of time and space, using VR, AR, 360-degree technologies and other means to achieve immersive experiences, allowing the public to closely appreciate the “spiritual mountain Jiuhua” as described by the poet Li Bai.”