Saving heritage with smart tech

AI researcher decodes cultural patterns into digital genes, linking relics, industries and living traditions, Wang Qian reports.

In a digital lab at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Zhao Haiying, professor at the university's artificial intelligence college, studies an intricate emblem glowing on her computer screen.

It is not just a static image, but a living portal. Through artificial intelligence, she traces an embroidery stitch to Confucius' travels during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), then propels it forward into modern reinterpretations, weaving a thread across millennia.

To make relics like the emblem tangible again, Zhao has tried to transform intangible cultural heritage into calculable, composable and living "cultural genes", a concept she first raised in her PhD essay.