Tiangong

Tiangong is an urban-rebirth novel by the Hubei web novelist Sha Bao. It began serialization on Zongheng Chinese in May 2016 and concluded on December 9, 2017, running 868 chapters and roughly 2.68 million characters. The protagonist, Su Jin, is a top artifact restorer in the real world. After an accident, he is reborn into a parallel world similar to China but suffering from "historical amnesia" because its cultural relics were severely damaged: the Forbidden City has become an antiques street, the Leshan Giant Buddha has half collapsed, the Dunhuang murals are eroded by sand and wind, the Mogao Caves are headless, and many restoration techniques have been lost. Relying on his restoration skills and professional eye from his previous life, Su Jin starts with seemingly humble items — a Su Dongpo "Bamboo and Rock" painting, a Deyi Yuanbao coin, a sheet of fine paper — and gradually rebuilds the traditional restoration system, teaching people to identify vessels and materials and to restore by proper methods. He founds the Tiangong Society at Capital University and leads a group of young students, starting from basic hand training, step by step onto the path of artifact restoration. The novel is structured around the restoration of bronzes, the Mawangdui silk texts, porcelain, and the strings of ancient se zithers, writing craft details such as mending porcelain, patching silk, and touching up brushwork with the rhythm of a martial arts contest. Through its alternate-history premise in which artifact restorers become a mainstream profession, it discusses craft inheritance, professional dignity, and the relationship between craft and civilizational memory. Known for its professionalism and plain style, with a clear career arc for the protagonist and restrained romance, it is a representative "craftsman-flow" work that combines knowledge with satisfying progression.