The remote villages of China’s Shanxi province are home to numerous Buddhist and Daoist temples containing undocumented wall-paintings and temple art. Many of these earthen and timber buildings are falling into ruin and others have been targeted by looters.

There is an urgent need to undertake a more comprehensive survey of Shanxi’s temples, both to record material before it is lost and to use as a platform in future research and conservation. We are therefore delighted to have received generous funding from Arcadia – a charitable foundation that works to protect nature, preserve cultural heritage, and promote open access to knowledge. Since 2002, Arcadia has awarded more than $1 billion to organizations around the world. The Shanxi Digital Documentation Project is a four-year programme of survey work that started in 2018, owing to interruptions during the pandemic, the project now aims to conclude in July 2023.