Five years after being devastated by a fire, the restored Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris officially reopened on November 7. The news captured global attention and there was a special sense of achievement in China as China was a pivotal partner in the restoration efforts.

In February 2024, experts from China’s Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum in Xi'an, China's northwestern Shaanxi Province, joined the restoration team in Paris. Zhou Ping, a deputy director of the Chinese museum, contributed Chinese  expertise in cultural relic preservation, including marble cleaning, research on charred wood, and conservation techniques for murals, metals and related artifacts.

The collaborative efforts also extended to research on the durability and stability of earthen sites, production techniques, identification and assessment of deterioration, and mechanisms of damage.

Both Notre-Dame and China’s Terracotta Warriors and Horses have wooden materials and both have suffered from fire damage. Through collaborative studies, the two cultural relics have been connected together. This partnership between China and France has fostered meaningful exchanges of expertise and techniques, strengthening both nations' capabilities in cultural heritage restoration and conservation.

By the end of 2023, China had carried out 33 cultural relic assistance projects with 17 countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. This shows commitment to contributing Chinese wisdom to conserving the world’s cultural heritage.