"We didn't paste back the circular decorations randomly. Each of them had its own position. After discussions, the archaeologists gave every circle a number, in order to match every one back in its very place." "Every relic is unique. There's no place for errors. You should be fond of it in the first place," said Ma. "This job requires ultimate attention, responsibility and patience." Buried for over 2,000 years, the terracotta fragments almost mixed together with the dirt. Ma and his colleagues had to scrape the dirt away cautiously with scalpels. "The scalpel has to go anticlockwise, but not horizontally, so that it won't leave scratches on the object or on the paint.” The elaboration makes the restoring job extremely time-consuming. For example, the restoration of Figure No. 4 took Ma and his colleagues two years to finish. For him, conscience and sense of responsibility are most important for this job.
