Fifteen years ago, the “Overseas Chinese Cultural Relics” was added to the category of cultural relics in my country for the first time. It was Jiangmen, the hometown of overseas Chinese, that promoted this historic breakthrough. But in fact, it is more difficult to protect cultural relics, which are mainly paper cultural relics. The cultural relics showcase believes that as an important carrier of overseas Chinese culture, how to strengthen the protection of overseas Chinese cultural relics has attracted attention from all walks of life.

The number of cultural relics in the collection ranks first among similar museums in the country

The history of overseas Chinese can be said to be hundreds of years, and it can also be traced back to one or two thousand years ago. However, “overseas Chinese cultural relics” are “younger” compared to traditional cultural relics such as ceramics and bronzes. The name officially appeared around 2000. The cultural relics left by the life and production of the overseas Chinese." Huang Zhiqiang, deputy curator of the Jiangmen Museum, introduced that it later included items related to overseas Chinese, such as foreign buildings, factories, schools, and roads built by overseas Chinese back home. According to the classification of immovable cultural relics and movable cultural relics, overseas Chinese cultural relics are divided into: one is immovable cultural relics such as watchtowers, Qiaoyu, arcades, schools and factories donated by overseas Chinese and other important modern historical sites and representative buildings. It is a movable cultural relic that reflects the daily life of the overseas Chinese, the proof of going abroad, and the production tools, such as Wuyi silver letter (overseas batch), oral confessions, overseas Chinese genealogy, certificates, and Jinshan boxes. As the overseas Chinese have passed on from generation to generation, the preserved cultural relics not only have the value of the object itself, but it is commendable that it retains the information and stories of the predecessors. Many cultural relics even constitute the history of the changes in the hometown of overseas Chinese. "

In addition, those who have been classified as cultural relics protection units have adopted the establishment of "Four Owned Files", that is, delimiting the protection scope and construction control zone, setting up protection signs, establishing scientific record files, establishing protection agencies or having special personnel responsible for management. This type of cultural relics suffers mainly from two aspects of damage, one is the destruction of natural disasters such as typhoons, rainstorms, and floods, and the other is man-made damage such as major demolition and construction of urban construction, and constructive destruction of the use of cultural relics. Relevant industry insiders stated that “the cultural relics listed as cultural preservation units can basically be protected, and some overseas Chinese cultural relics that are not cultural preservation units disappear from time to time.”

Overseas Chinese cultural relics are mainly paper texts such as overseas Chinese batches and oral confessions

Overseas Chinese living in the country where they live, large and metal objects are not convenient to carry. For this reason, there are many small and light utensils and paper objects, and paper cultural relics are easy to store in social changes. For this reason, the quantity Numerous overseas Chinese cultural relics, paper cultural relics "have the upper hand." Such cultural relics mainly include books, calligraphy and painting, contracts, banknotes, bills, letters (overseas Chinese approval), certificates, etc.

However, the cultural relics showcase believes that this is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Among all the materials of cultural relics, the paper quality is "short-lived". A piece of paper text may not exist for hundreds of years after being placed for decades. Paper text with fibrous structure is easy It turns yellow, becomes brittle, and eventually decomposes naturally; on the other hand, paper text is prone to mold and moth-eaten, especially affected by the humid weather in the south, making protection even more difficult. For this reason, there are five taboos in the storage of paper cultural relics: avoid pollution, mold, moth, light, and humidity. It is very difficult to protect. Improper storage can damage the appearance of the collection.

On the other hand, the protection of overseas Chinese paper cultural relics lies in the restoration of some broken and worn paper cultural relics. Basically, paper-based overseas Chinese cultural relics can only be hidden in the warehouse.