Yungang

The following activities have taken place at Yungang:

•  intensive monitoring of pollutants and particulates, initially over one month, with training in the use of equipment for additional sampling by Yungang staff over a twelve-month period;

•  installing an environmental monitoring station and providing preliminary training in equipment handling, maintenance, and data reduction;

•  conducting a geophysical and soil-depth study of the cliff top and Ming dynasty fort area, and introducing neutron probe and dielectric probe instrumentation for moisture monitoring in the cliff rock;

•  providing engineering consultancy and advice in relation to moisture seepage and monitoring;

•  developing plans for control of water infiltration and seepage into the geological strata of the cliff, using information provided in part by the provincial geophysical institute;

•  conducting a preliminary design study for the pagoda facade at Cave 19 in conjunction with architects from the China National Institute of Cultural Property;

•  conducting a one-year study of the pigments and binding media of the polychromy in Cave 6;

•  providing a formal, two-week-long training course for site managers from other sites in China in October 1992; and

•  installing two drainage test areas, each 50 x 50 m above the grottoes, using modern geosynthetic drainage materials to function with existing open-channel surface drains.

By the end of 1993, the collaboration had achieved

•  solutions to some of the major problems afflicting the sites, or had demonstrated how these may be solved and what is required to do so;

•  training in a number of scientific and technical areas, and in the management of sites;

•  enhanced self-sufficiency in site conservation in China;

•  furthering of the scientific study and understanding of the conservation of outdoor sites generally; and

•  dissemination of the knowledge through publications and the 1993 conference.