Ancient 1,600-year-old love writing restored by Chinese scientists

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A Chinese research team has fully restored a 1,600-year-old romantic poetry scroll with the help of artificial intelligence, showcasing how centuries-old art can be given a digital rebirth and regain its charm in the present day.

The celebrated masterpiece Rhapsody on the Luo River Goddess, or Luoshen Fu, was recently restored by Peking University. The work was penned by the esteemed Chinese calligrapher Wang Xianzhi in the 4th century, yet only around a quarter of its verses have survived.

According to a post on Peking University’s social media account on October 9, a team from the university’s China Typography Design and Research Centre successfully re-created this severely damaged calligraphy work by combining calligraphic font design with AI character creation technology.

Based on the surviving 250 characters and a detailed analysis of their stylistic traits, the team used AI to replicate and expand upon the original style and form. The result is a complete rendition of 919 characters presented in full scroll form.

The university wrote that this endeavour “vividly illuminates the fusion potential of ‘AI plus culture’ – where traditional calligraphic art gains fresh modes of expression in the digital age”.