Zoya Bahit, a deputy to the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, discusses public affairs with a local resident in Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, on September 22, 2023（COURTESY PHOTO）   

As spring approaches, temperatures in north Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region are gradually rising. However, Altay Prefecture, known for its long winters, remains blanketed in ice and snow. Zoya Bahit, a local museum staff member and deputy to the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, is dedicated to protecting the immovable cultural relics scattered across the vast, rugged wilds of the land. She eagerly awaits the thawing snow and ice to inspect their condition.

Zoya's passion for relics runs deep. She has developed an emotional attachment to these treasures, committing herself to a lifetime of uncovering and preserving their stories. Recalling her first experience while excavating ancient stone tools at the Tongtian Cave site in Xinjiang in 2016, she said she felt like she was "witnessing and experiencing history."

"Ancient humans may have used the stone knives to skin animals to make clothes or eat the meat," Zoya, who worked with a shovel and brush at the site for three months as an intern while studying for her master's degree in archaeology and museology at Xinjiang University in Urumqi, the regional capital, recalled. "Through gradual excavation, we discovered traces of ancient life. It was so exciting." 

Tongtian Cave, located in Jeminay County of Altay, is a granite site where it is believed humans lived from the Paleolithic period 45,000 years ago to the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 B.C.). It was later designated as a key state cultural relics site.

After graduation, Zoya joined the Altay Museum in 2021, fulfilling her wish to become a cultural heritage worker, mainly responsible for the protection and management of immobile cultural relics.

When talking about such local relics, she speaks with great familiarity. "Currently, Altay has over 690 immovable cultural relic sites, including stone figurines of different shapes on the grasslands and rock paintings with rich content," she said.

Racing against time 

Elected as an NPC deputy for the first time in 2023, Zoya is in her third year of the five-year term. How should numerous scattered cultural relic sites with limited personnel be managed? What methods can better ensure the permanent preservation and utilization of relics such as rock art? These are issues she has consistently focused on.

Immovable cultural relics are cultural heritage items or historical artifacts that are permanently fixed to their locations, such as ancient structures or rock art. They cannot be moved without damaging their historical, artistic or scientific value.

"Unlike museum relics that have controlled environments, immovable cultural relics, mostly located in open air environments, are vulnerable to irreversible damage from time and climate change," Zoya told Beijing Review, adding that the protection of such relics is truly a race against time.

In 2024, during a field investigation of the Fourth National Cultural Relics Census, Zoya and her colleagues worked in the wild for more than four months to further assess the "inventory" of local immovable cultural relics, covering a distance of over a thousand miles.

By this May, Altay is expected to complete the field investigation and review of the fourth census, which is aimed at establishing a comprehensive national registry and database of immovable cultural relics and building a dynamic management mechanism for these assets.

"The wide distribution, large number and long distances between outdoor cultural relic sites pose challenges to protection efforts," she explained. However, Altay now has fewer than 100 registered outdoor cultural relic guardians, making winter patrols even more difficult.

In Zoya's eyes, these cultural relics dotting the landscape are like "children away from home," and her greatest wish is to give them a "stable home" through her efforts.

Zoya Bahit and her colleagues conduct a field investigation as part of the Fourth National Cultural Relics Census, in Fuyun County, Altay, on May 24, 2024 (COURTESY PHOTO) 

Tech empowerment 

Research and innovation might be the key for Zoya to fulfilling her duties. Last year, after collecting opinions from grassroots workers and guardians, she proposed suggestions on applying technological methods to enhance the protection of outdoor cultural relics at the Second Session of the 14th NPC.

Zoya called for encouraging and supporting the use of spatial information technology to enhance physical protection measures, establish a relic safety early warning and prevention system, strengthen end-point security, improve source management and implement comprehensive oversight. She emphasized the importance of integrating human, physical and technological protection methods.

These suggestions received a prompt response. The National Cultural Heritage Administration said the comprehensive use of technological methods is essential for enhancing relic safety supervision capabilities, especially in remote areas. In recent years, the administration has pushed various regions in strengthening satellite remote sensing enforcement monitoring, advancing the construction of relic safety supervision platforms and protective projects, and combining human and technological defense to reinforce the "last mile" of relic safety.

In its reply, the administration expressed its commitment to further supporting grassroots and field relic protection. It pledged to encourage local governments to adopt technological research and new applications suited to local conditions, expand channels for public participation in relic safety supervision, and solidify the safety foundation for cultural heritage.

"The response has given me great confidence in further protecting grassroots cultural relics," Zoya said.

"Technology empowers us in cultural heritage preservation, allowing us to outpace time," she said. "From a spatiotemporal perspective, it enables us to comprehensively, accurately and authentically document the current state of cultural relics. At the same time, technological tools can monitor and provide early warnings about potential threats, such as climate change, temperature fluctuations, biological damage and the impacts of human activities. This approach allows us to prevent damage before it occurs, instead of just reacting to problems after they arise."

Her previous suggestions also included making more digital copies of rock paintings and other stone artifacts that can be used for scientific research and exhibitions.

"As the natural erosion of such relics is an irreversible process, we have to race against time to record their current conditions, as their information will play a key role in future studies," she said, adding on the basis of digitization, virtual reality (VR) technology and the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to enable a "virtual home" for those relics online, allowing these historical treasures to be seen by more people.

"The issue of how to further strengthen the protection of such relics in the wild would run throughout my term," Zoya said, adding that committed to this cause, she will continue advocating for the protection of cultural heritage in the field and voicing the concerns of grassroots preservation workers.

As a deputy to the NPC, partaking in legislative work is another important part of Zoya's duties. Last year, she participated in the revision of the Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics, which took effect on March 1. Drawing from her own practical experience, she made 21 targeted and constructive proposals.

"The law is the first special law in our country's cultural sector, and it has been over 20 years since the last revision. As a young practitioner in the cultural relics industry, I feel deeply honored to be involved in this revision and review process," she said.