“对得起古人，对得起后人”：20年磨一“剑”复活兵马俑 | Restorer of an Ancient Empire

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The Terracotta Army in northwest China's Shaanxi Province is a world-renowned cultural heritage.

西安秦始皇兵马俑，是举世闻名的文化遗产。

The scales of the excavated pits are astonishing. There are warriors and chariots, even birds and beasts. With their sophisticated techniques, the ancient sculptors left us a panorama of the sumptuous life of China's first emperor. 

被发掘出来的大量墓坑气势恢宏。从士兵战车到奇禽异兽，古代工匠用精湛的技术，为今天的人们事无巨细地展现了当年帝王生活的方方面面。

The stone armor displayed in Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum looks like this:

现在大家在秦始皇帝陵博物院看到的石铠甲，是这样的：

But when it was unearthed, things were totally different.

可它刚被发掘出来时，是这样的：

This is the bronze waterfowl exhibited in the museum.

博物馆里展出的青铜水禽，是这样的：

But when the archaeologists discovered it, the neck was broken into pieces.

但考古人员发现它时，它是这样的：

All the grandeur of the underground army was revealed by those unsung heroes: The relic restorers.

如今，世人能欣赏兵马俑的威仪，要感谢博物馆的“幕后英雄”：文物保护修复工作者。

The two relics mentioned above were both restored by Ma Yu, who works in Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum. He has been doing his job for more than 20 years.

修复以上两件文物的人叫马宇，是秦始皇帝陵博物院的一名文物修复师。他从事这一专业已有二十多年。

Another masterpiece of him is the Acrobatics Figure No. 4 of Pit K9901.

他的另一件杰作，是9901坑的4号俑。

"When we first excavated the pit K9901, it seemed to have been severely damaged. Over a thousand fragments scattered in a wide area. The work load was huge," said Ma.

“9901坑发掘的时候，我们发现它遭到的破坏相当大，有一千多块残片。它很散乱，不是在一个区域，工作量非常大。”马宇介绍说。

Among the acrobatics figures of Pit K9901, Figure No. 4 was exceptional. There are paoding (circular decorations) on his upper body clothing. Therefore, it is also called Paoding Figure.

从9901号坑发掘出来的几具百戏俑中，4号俑的服饰最为特别。它的上衣有泡钉状装饰，因此又被称为“泡钉俑”。

2012年4号俑出土时的状态 （图片来源：秦始皇帝陵博物院官网）

Acrobatics Figure No. 4 unearthed in 2012 (picture from the official website of Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum)

"We didn't paste back the circular decorations randomly. Each of them had its own position. After discussions, the archaeologists gave every circle a number, in order to match every one back in its very place."

“4号俑上面的泡钉，我们不是随意粘接的。因为泡钉都是有方位的。所以考古人员商量之后，每个泡钉都有编号，要让它们回到原来的遗留的位置上。

"Every relic is unique. There's no place for errors. You should be fond of it in the first place," said Ma. "This job requires ultimate attention, responsibility and patience."

“文物不可再生。你首先要对文物有兴趣。”马宇说，“你在做这份工作的时候，要很细心，很用心，很耐心。”

Buried for over 2,000 years, the terracotta fragments almost mixed together with the dirt. Ma and his colleagues had to scrape the dirt away cautiously with scalpels.

在地下深埋两千多年，兵马俑的陶片几乎和泥土融为一体。马宇和同事们需要用手术刀一点一点地将脏污刮除，把文物清理出来。

"The scalpel has to go anticlockwise, but not horizontally, so that it won't leave scratches on the object or on the paint.”

“这个手术刀是逆时针打圈的，不是横刮的。这才能不让器物的表面和彩绘表面产生划痕。”

The elaboration makes the restoring job extremely time-consuming. For example, the restoration of Figure No. 4 took Ma and his colleagues two years to finish.

因为工作精细，所以修复一件文物所耗费的时间极其漫长。比如4号俑，马宇和同事们花费了两年时间才修复完成。

For him, conscience and sense of responsibility are most important for this job.

对马宇而言，这份工作最重要的是良心和责任心。

"When you are working on it, if you lost a little fragment, or scraped off something, nobody would know," he says. "So it's up to you to discipline yourself, to do it well. You should never disappoint the ancient people, nor the next generations."

“做这个工作，其实有时候，你要是丢失一小块，或者把哪里清理掉了，外人没有人知道，”他说，“这就凭你自己，要把它做好。要对得起古人，对得起后人。”

Up to now, several pits of the mausoleum are still under excavation and conservation. They will be opened to public in the future. Thanks to the conscientious restorers like Ma Yu, the relics of the ancient civilizations are given a second life.

至今，仍有许多兵马俑墓葬坑正在被发掘、保护，并陆续向公众开放。正因为有马宇这样兢兢业业的文物修复师的存在，古代文明的遗产才能再度屹立世间。

Cameraman: Zhang Nan

Film editor: Zhang Fengchao, Ma Mingyuan

Story written by: Zhu Siqi

English editor: April Espejo

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