It's time for the second season of CGTN's original series Tech It Out. On Global Watch this week, we are showing you the scientific and technological breakthroughs in China that will reshape our world. One big headache for archaeologists is that cultural heritage items cannot be preserved in the physical world forever. In today's Tech It Out, we look at how scientists are giving such works of art a second life.  

Humans create works of art to embody their civilization. But all of them share the destiny of their creator. Mortality. Advancements in technology give the hope of an eternal legacy but that's often wishful thinking.

Some works are destroyed by unexpected brutality. Far more meet their end from an unstoppable force. TIME.

PROF. LI ZHIRONG, ARCHAEOLOGIST ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY "It's not just the physical body of an artifact that will be under threat but also the information it carries including its size, its color, and the surrounding environment. If the art works are doomed to disappear, what can scientists do to preserve our cultural heritage?"

PROF LI ZHIRONG, ARCHAEOLOGIST ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY "We want to create an archive for them. What kind of archive? An archive that can help us rebuild it when it disappears."

Computer scientist Diao Jianyu believes what cannot be physically preserved could be digitally documented. Here in his lab, researchers are scanning every nook and cranny to create a detailed 3D model.

PROF. DIAO CHANGYU, COMPUTER SCIENTIST ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY "A simple 3D model is not acceptable for heritage preservation. We need the most detailed model."

Scientists use different devices to map ancient works in different sizes. The scanner works a bit like sonar, using laser pulses instead of sound to create a 3D representation of the scene called a point cloud. A flying laser can not only collect data about the shape but help fill in details, adding texture, color, lighting, and shadow to yield unparalleled realism.

PROF. LI ZHIRONG, ARCHAEOLOGIST ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY "I first watched the 3D mapping technology in 2011, when we did testing at the 45th cave in the Xumi Grottoes. After a short 2 hours of scanning, a rough 3D model were generated in the computer. I was shocked because I can check every detail of the cave, the color, the weathering conditions all details that we cannot access through traditional ways."

A serendipitous discovery made Professor Diao and Li realize digital technology can do much more than just documenting.

PROF. DIAO CHANGYU, COMPUTER SCIENTIST ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY "That was a cliff stone tablet in Shanxi Province. It was seriously weathered and damaged. We were just there to scan and archive. The surface of the stone tablet was too colorful to make out the words on it. But after we entered it into the computer, we found those characters became readable. By adjusting the angle of light, we found the ambiguous words can be recognized."

14 more characters have been recognized only on the computer, carrying key information such as the tablet's owner and when it was built. The unexpected findings revitalized a stalled research.

For many large ancient structures, 3D modelling technology can digitalize everything, except one thing: the striking force that takes your breath away.

Ning Bo is a researcher at the Yungang Grottoes. He believes the feeling is also a key message from history of this UNESCO World Heritage.

NING BO, RESEARCHER YUNGANG GROTTOES "The Yungang Buddhist Grottoes were built under the instruction of the royal family during the Northern Wei Dynasty with caves as high as 10 or 20 meters. Only the physical immensity can reflect the power of the state, the confidence of the culture and the spirit that the designer wanted to express."

They started a crazier experiment, to bring the cold data back to life by 3D printing.

PROF. DIAO CHANGYU, COMPUTER SCIENTIST ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY "We took over 10,000 photographs of one Buddhist grotto. All the photos were unified in one coordinated system in the computer. From that, the system calculated a high-resolution 3D model. In the computer, the 3D model was cut into 829 parts from which we 3D-printed them out. All pieces were eventually assembled together on a steel structure."

The most futuristic technologies help us better see the old times.

PROF. DIAO CHANGYU, COMPUTER SCIENTIST ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY "We could make those antiquities digitally immortal and can also make them reborn at different places around the world."

PROF. LI ZHIRONG, ARCHAEOLOGIST ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY "I hope after a thousand years, our data could be passed on to the future generations. They could learn from the images, the colors, and all the information we archived to understand how people who lived on the same soil before us expressed their faith and lives."