(260517) -- LUOYANG, May 17, 2026 (Xinhua) -- A drone photo taken on May 13, 2026 shows tourists visiting Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, central China's Henan Province. At the Longmen Grottoes Academy in Henan, a young and dedicated team is responsible for preserving and monitoring Longmen Grottoes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, by creating digital archives of its Buddhist sculptures.
Since 2005, Longmen Grottoes Academy has started the work of laser scanning and high-definition photography to preserve the 1,500-year-old Chinese stone carvings in digital form. In recent years, the team has led dozens of national-level and provincial-level cultural relic restoration and conservation projects and contributed to the preservation and monitoring of major cultural heritages including the Silk Road and the Grand Canal of the Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-907) dynasties.
The team is the recipient of this year's China Youth May Fourth Medal, the country's top honor awarded to youths. (Xinhua/Li Jianan)
