Beijing plans to recruit 30 junior high school students and train them into becoming professionals at restoring cultural relics for the Forbidden City amid a shortage of such talents, according to Beijing Youth Daily.

　　由于专业人才稀缺，北京准备招30名初中生，将他们培养成在故宫修文物的匠人，据《北京青年报》报道。

　　Beijing Union University, Beijing International Vocational Education School and the Palace Museum this year jointly launched a pilot education program to train professional restoration experts.

　　今年，北京联合大学、北京国际职业教育学校和故宫博物院联合开展试验项目，以培养专业的修复匠人。

　　The students will study cultural relic reconstruction at the Beijing International Vocational Education School for three years, followed by two years of vocational education at Beijing Union University. After further study, they can be awarded bachelor’s degrees.

　　学生前3年在北京国际职业教育学校学习，后由联大培养2年，再通过进一步学习，获得本科学历。

　　The pilot program is aimed at cultivating more local professional talents. Shan Jilin, the curator of the Palace Museum, once told Chinese media that insufficient career paths for young people had resulted in a lack of professional restoration experts. The hukou, or household registration system, makes it hard for young experts to work in the museum.

　　该试点项目的目的在于培养更多的专业人才。故宫博物院院长单霁翔曾在接受媒体采访时表示，职业发展道路不畅导致故宫工匠缺乏。户口制度也导致很多年轻的匠人不能在故宫工作。

　　To restore all of the cultural relics in the Palace Museum with existing experts will take at least 100 years, according to the museum.

　　故宫修复部门也坦言，以现在的修复人员把故宫现存文物修一遍至少还需百余年。

　　In order to cultivate more professionals in the field, the museum launched the major in cultural relic repair with the Beijing International Vocational Education School in 2015, and recruited about 20 students in the first year. So far, 35 students have been recruited.

　　为培养本领域更多的匠人，2015年，故宫和北京国际职业教育学校联手，首次开设文物修复专业。首批招收20人，至今，该专业招收了35位学生。

　　Besides general courses including Chinese, math and politics, the students also learn professional knowledge about relic repair, including basic knowledge of cultural relics, the history of arts and the basic methods of relic protection, according to Qian Weidong, the director of the Beijing International Vocational Education School. Teachers were mostly from the Palace Museum, Qian added.

　　据北京国际职业教育学校校长的钱卫东介绍，被该专业录取的学生除学习语文、数学、政治等公共基础课外，还将学习文物保护专业的核心课程，包括文物基础知识、中国美术简史、文物保护方法基础等。他补充说，故宫修复专家是这些科目的授课主力。

　　Professional restoration experts have attracted widespread attention from the general public after the success of the three-episode TV documentary, Masters in the Forbidden City, which premiered on China Central Television at the beginning of last year.

　　自三集长的纪录片《我在故宫修文物》于去年初在中央电视台上映并引起轰动后，文物修复匠人引起了人们的广泛关注。

（编辑：何莹莹）