To inherit and promote excellent traditional Chinese culture and enable teachers and students to experience the charm of ancient book techniques, on April 22, the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) Library, in collaboration with the Heilongjiang Ancient Books Protection Center, organized an ancient book techniques experience event in the Cultural Warm Corridor of the library.
This event integrated three intangible cultural heritage techniques—stone rubbings, block printing, and ancient book thread-binding—to create an immersive practical experience. Everyone engaged in hands-on practice to replicate the imprints of civilization, deeply appreciating the artisan spirit and cultural perseverance through the processes of rubbing, engraving, and binding.
In the stone rubbings area, teachers and students followed steps. As patterns appeared, peeling off rubbings was like seeing the stone stele's thousand-year history. They became inheritors, feeling the inscriptions' heritage. At the block printing site, they evenly inked and pressed paper, experiencing the artisan spirit and block printing's historical and cultural significance. In the thread-binding section, they cut, folded, punched, and threaded to make unique booklets, realizing thread-binding's unique character and spirit in books.
This event received professional guidance from the Heilongjiang Ancient Books Protection Center. Participants were allowed to keep the works they made by hand as permanent keepsakes. Everyone said that amidst the fast - paced campus life, this serene experience enabled them to feel the charm of traditional culture and clearly understand the significance of ancient book protection and cultural inheritance. In the future, HIT Library will keep hosting quality activities, aiding teachers and students to build character and gain strength through books. It aims to deeply root traditional culture on campus and sustain its millennia-long inheritance.
