How the modern world is preserving old culture

The recent progress of new technology is a blessing for the preservation of cultural artifacts and landmarks.

As one of the fastest-growing markets for these new technologies, China is seeing them increasingly used in the preservation of cultural heritage and, as a result, that cultural heritage is finding its way into people's everyday lives.

When the Shanghai Dashijie, also known as the "Big World", the city's most popular theater since 1917, reopened on Friday, it featured an interactive VR room that recreates scenes of old Shanghai, according to Jiefang Daily.

Moreover, the city's traditional Shikumen neighborhood has been digitally documented by VR cameras and software in an effort to preserve endangered architecture.

Last year, the cultural heritage of Yunnan province in Southwest China - such as festivals featuring murals by members of the Yi, Dali and Lijiang ethnic groups - was recreated through the use of virtual and augmented reality at the fourth annual Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition in Shandong province.

Meanwhile, Beijing played host to an innovation competition last year, where augmented and virtual reality were used to reconstruct the Yuanmingyuan, or Old Summer Palace, on mobile devices.

"Cultural heritage is coming into people's lives through the national Internet Plus strategy", Lu Qiong, deputy director of the department of cultural heritage preservation and archaeology at the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, told a forum at Tsinghua University last year.

China is currently promoting the digitization of the collection and representation of cultural heritage items, and exploring ways to openly share digital resources and develop new equipment, Lu said.

In March, the country's first strategic partnership - "Intangible Cultural Heritage + VR" - was formed by two startups in Beijing, according to vrlequ, an online industry observer .

"Digitally constructed cultural heritage offers a new model of cultural intellectual property that can potentially be extended and further utilized," said He Yan, director of a digital technology research institute at Tsinghua University. "Cultural resources will not bound by a certain time or space."

Guo Xiaojun contributed to the story.