Chongqing—Twenty high school seniors from the Chongqing Special Education Center did not visit the Three Gorges Cultural Relics Science and Technology Protection Base on Oct. 25 to look at exhibits behind glass. Instead, they picked up restoration tweezers, brushes and airbrushes, ran their fingers over replica artifacts, traced Braille labels and listened to audio descriptions.
Their goal was to "see" a smile that has survived more than a thousand years, not with their eyes, but through their fingertips, ears and noses.
The visit was part of a broader effort by the base, affiliated with the Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum, to translate the shape, texture, sound and scent of cultural relics into accessible experiences for visually impaired visitors, so that a museum visit no longer depends solely on eyesight.
Tools as a First Key
The first stop was the restoration laboratory, where conservators' tools were placed within the students' reach. They felt the soft, fine hairs of brushes and the delicate tips of tweezers that required careful handling.
As they touched the tools, staff members provided live audio descriptions of repaired pottery figurines, their outlines, clothing, and the centuries-old smiles on their faces. Though the students could not see the objects, the combination of tactile tools and spoken language let them piece together the restorer's work: cleaning away dust, joining broken fragments, and bringing a blurred face back into clarity.
Students from the Chongqing Special Education Center touch replica tools used in guqin making at the Three Gorges Cultural Relics Science and Technology Protection Base of the Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum on Oct. 25. (Photo/Qi Lansheng)
An interactive aromatherapy component added another sensory layer, letting visitors perceive the artifacts' historical atmosphere and era through scent.
For the students, the restoration room became more than a workplace. It opened a door onto the concrete process through which the region's Bayu civilization has been preserved and passed down.
Touch as an Equal Form of Viewing
At the second stop, "Ask, and You Shall Know: Why in Museums? Interactive Experience Exhibition 2.0," the base presented two parallel arrangements: an accessible exhibition route and a relatively independent accessible space featuring dozens of touchable exhibits.
The exhibits are carefully made replicas that retain the texture and appearance of the originals. By feeling outlines, surfaces, and patterns, visitors can gain knowledge equivalent to what they get through sight.
Tactile paving runs through the route. Display stands sit at touchable heights. Touchable guide maps, Braille guide sheets and audio guides form a multi-sensory navigation system. The Braille labels use the national standard and were reviewed by experts from the Chongqing Blind Persons' Association, who served as "pre-visit visitors" to verify accuracy and placement. QR codes for the audio guide are affixed as stickers on the Braille sheets, so they can be found by touch alone.
The students moved slowly along the tactile path, pausing to feel exhibits or lower their heads to read Braille. No one hurried them, and no one offered excessive help. The space for independent viewing was left intact.
A student reads a Braille exhibition label at the base’s gallery on Oct. 25. (Photo/Qi Lansheng)
The third stop was a guqin-themed hall, "Strings That Resonate Through Millennia." The students listened to and tried the seven-stringed Chinese zither, a UNESCO-recognized instrument, while touching materials that illustrated its production, from wood selection and crafting to stringing. Through touch and sound, the guqin's grain, string spacing, and vibrations became perceptible.
From Single Points to a Route
The event reflects the base's wider exploration of accessibility. According to a person in charge, visually impaired museumgoers face three main categories of obstacles: physical, informational and service-related.
The base has sought to connect individual solutions into a coherent route. Touchable exhibits are replicas that preserve the originals' texture and appearance. Braille labels use the national standard and are pre-reviewed by experts from the blind persons' association. Tactile paving guides independent movement. Guide maps, Braille sheets and audio guides work in tandem, with QR-code stickers placed for tactile discovery.
Students touch replica artifacts in the gallery on Oct. 25. (Photo/Qi Lansheng)
Supporting services have been strengthened alongside the physical infrastructure. Frontline staff have received systematic training in audio description and in etiquette for guiding visually impaired visitors. The base provides blindfolds and white canes, inviting sighted visitors to experience exhibitions from the perspective of visually impaired people. Before opening, experts from the association test and review the arrangements, and visitors evaluate and vote on the two accessibility models: the accessible route and the separate accessible space.
From the touch of a restoration airbrush to the extension of a tactile path, and from a Braille label to a QR-code sticker, the base is steadily dismantling the visual dependence of museum visits. When artifacts can be reached through fingertips, ears, and breath, the principle of accessibility for all takes concrete form.