Picturing art's past

Cutting-edge technology enables precious paintings to be examined without fear of damage, report Ma Zhenhuan and Qi Xiao in Hangzhou.

As the focus of the visitor's eyes moves, the scroll of A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains, one of the best-known Chinese landscape paintings by artist Wang Ximeng of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), unfurls. Standing in front of Emperor Minghuang's Journey to Shu, painted by artist Li Zhaodao of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), visitors might be forgiven for thinking that they have stepped into the emperor's world.