A scene of the 2022 Shanxi Cultural Relics Industry Vocational Competition in Shanxi province [Photo/Shanxi Daily]

The 2022 Shanxi Cultural Relics Industry Vocational Competition was held in North China's Shanxi province on Aug 17-19. 

The competition was jointly sponsored by the Shanxi Bureau of Cultural Relics, Shanxi Department of Human Resources and Social Security, and Shanxi Federation of Trade Unions, and attracted the participation of 112 contestants from cultural relics institutions and colleges across the province. 

Themed around the protection of cultural heritage and the promotion of craftsmanship, the competition consisted of six programs on the restoration of wood, clay, tile, ceramic, and metal cultural relics, murals and painted sculptures, as well as archaeological exploration. Each program was divided into two parts: theoretical assessment and practical operation.

The six programs each produced two first prizes, three second prizes, and five third prizes. The first prize winners will represent Shanxi in the National Cultural Relics Vocational Competition in October, and all prize winners will be given priority to be identified as cultural relic restorers at the corresponding level.

"This is the first time that Shanxi has held such an event. It is meant to help Shanxi strengthen the development of cultural relic vocational skills, pass down cultural relic restoration techniques, and realize its transformation from a province with large cultural relic resources to a strong province in cultural relic protection," said Liu Runmin, director of the Shanxi Bureau of Cultural Relics.

Shanxi is a province rich in cultural relics, with 53,875 immovable and over 3.2 million movable cultural relics – ranking fourth and fifth, respectively, in the country.

There are 531 cultural relic sites under national key protection, ranking first in the country.

Among its existing 28,027 ancient buildings, more than 500 are ancient wooden structures from the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and before, accounting for more than 80 percent of all ancient wooden structures in the country. There are more than 12,000 painted sculptures and over 24,000 square meters of murals dating as far back as the Tang Dynasty (618-907), all ranking first in the country.