Focus on Forbidden City restoration project

(1 Mar 2006)
1. Wide pan exterior of Forbidden City
2. People walking to the table for agreement signing
3. Pan from crowd of people in the courtyard to a pavilion
4. Tilt down from face of Bonnie Burnham, president of World Monuments Fund to her hand signing agreement
5. Tilt up from close of hand signing agreement to face of representative of the Forbidden City
6. Zoom out from close up of US and China flags on the table to mid shot of representatives shaking hands
7. US donor unveiling plaque commemorating the project
8. Close pan across the plaque
9. Wide of press briefing
10. SOUNDBITE (English): Bonnie Burnham, World Monuments Fund President:
"What gave us mutual confidence from the beginning to work together is that we found we did share the same values and could agree from the philosophical perspective as to what we want to accomplish."
11. Various shots of building structure in the garden
12. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin): Jin Hongkui, Deputy Director, Palace Museum:
"Through cooperation and communication, we think that the modern technologies and our traditional crafts can be mutually beneficial."
13. Various of restoration work on an old painting in a studio
14. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin): Zhang Zhihong, Painting restorer of the Palace Museum:
"The equipment offered to us is mainly for testing data. Since these paintings are traditional Chinese ones, we have to use traditional Chinese methods to repair them."
15. Wide pan across exterior forbidden city building showing scaffolding at one end
16. Wide of scaffolding
STORYLINE:
The Palace Museum in Beijing and the US World Monuments Fund on Wednesday signed an agreement on a new initiative in the Forbidden City - the restoration of the Qianlong Garden, one of the most historically significant and architecturally rich sites in the Forbidden City.
The Palace Museum and the World Monuments Fund spent ten years and 15 to 18 (m) million US dollars on conserving the garden which was built by Qing Emperor Qianlong (on throne from 1736 to 1796) and is one of the largest areas in the Forbidden City to remain relatively untouched since imperial times.
It is the biggest partnership project ever undertaken by the Palace Museum with an international organisation to restore an historic site inside the Forbidden City.
The World Monuments Fund said the Qianlong Garden restoration over the next 10 years will bring together the best resources and expertise from around the world in a wide range of areas, including conservation, architecture, technical and craftsmanship training, and museum methodologies.
When the project is completed in 2016, visitors who now have only limited access to some of the courtyards of the Garden complex, will be able to enjoy the historic interiors and the emperor's private garden, which have never been fully open to the public.
The Qianlong Garden was built from 1771 to 1776 by Emperor Qianlong, the fourth Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, to serve as his residence during his planned retirement.
Today, much of the most delicate decoration, including bamboo marquetry, white jade cartouches, and double-sided embroidered silk, is disintegrating.
Rooms of the garden buildings have remained largely untouched since their creation and have been seen by very few people since 1925, when many of the buildings were left unused.
Keyword- archaeology

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