Preserved arts reveal wisdom

Bai Xuesong introduces Jingyun Bell of the Tang Dynasty in the Stele Museum. HUO YAN/CHINA DAILY

"It is a wonder that the museum is so well preserved," said Bai.

A former curator of the museum shut it for three years at the peak of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), and thought of many ways to protect the relics from being sabotaged, according to his testimony.

Bai's favorite cultural relic is the Jingyun Bell, which was cast in the Tang Dynasty with an inscription by a Tang emperor. The China National Radio recorded the ringing of the bell and has broadcast it for decades as a New Year bell ring nationwide, he added.

Screen printer Li Xiaofeng came to work in the museum after visiting it. He served in the army for three years before coming to Xi'an. "I fell in love with the calligraphy art at first sight of the stone steles and learned screen printing for two years," Li said. "When I screen print, I feel that I am talking with the calligraphers. They have their souls and wisdom planted in the strokes."