On March 31, 2024, the launching ceremony on the Ancient Books Resource Database Platform on Culture of the Northern Frontier of China, jointly developed by IMU and the Inner Mongolia Academy of Social Sciences, was held in No. 8 Room of the Academic Conference Center at Saihan Campus. The event was attended by Ni Ma Zha Xi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor at Tibet University;Chao Ge Jin, a member of the Academic Division and a first-class researcher fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Bo Er Zhi Jin Wu Yun Bi Li Ge, Chang jiang Scholar and professor at Renmin University of China; Yu Jie, researcher fellow at National University of Defense Technology; Yang Cheng, second-level inspector at the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Development and Reform Commission; A La Ta, a member of the Party Group and dedicated committee member of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Ethnic Affairs Committee; Bai Chun, a member of the Party Committee and deputy editor-in-chief of Inner Mongolia Daily; Zhao Yong Hou, president of the Inner Mongolia Branch of China News Service; Bao Yin Shan, president of the Inner Mongolia Academy of Social Sciences; Zhu Meng Ning, vice president of the Inner Mongolia Academy of Social Sciences;

Liu Zhiyu, the Secretary of the Party Committee of IMU；Wu Li Min, the President of IMU; Gao Guang Lai, the Vice President of IMU, as well as representatives from higher education institutions inside and outside the region, relevant enterprises in the autonomous region, responsible persons from departments and commissions of the autonomous region, and representatives from various libraries, totaling more than 200 people. The Vice President Da Hu Bai Yi La presided over the meeting.

In his speech, Wu Limin introduced the relevant information about the ancient books project. He pointed out that an important representation of the Culture of the Northern Frontier of China is the multilingual ancient book literature resources in the Inner Mongolia area. In the implementation of the "Mongolian Ancient Books Digitization Project", IMU has focused on ancient Mongolian books as the main research object, gathered scientific research strength to tackle key and difficult topics in ancient book protection, and made a series of breakthroughs in the digitization technology of ethnic ancient books. They have built a platform for the ancient books resources database on Culture of the Northern Frontier of China, completed more than 11,000 volumes of ethnic ancient books, such as sorting, scanning, identification, catalogue compilation, digitally publishing 30 precious Mongolian ancient books and documents facing national unity, which will contribute to the protection and excavation of ethnic ancient books and promote cultural diversity, national unity and the inheritance and development of cultural heritage.

Researcher fellow Chao Gejin introduced the connotation and regional characteristics about the Culture of the Northern Frontier of China in his speech. He mentioned that institutions represented by IMU and the Inner Mongolia Academy of Social Sciences have undertaken the arduous tasks of preserving and digitizing ethnic ancient books. They have focused on key and challenging issues in ancient book preservation, pooling scientific research efforts to tackle technical problems and establishing a platform for the ancient books resource database on the Culture of the Northern Frontier of China. They have developed a digitization system of ancient Mongolian books with a high level of intelligence, completing the digitization of a large number of precious ancient documents, thus greatly facilitating the protection and utilization of ethnic ancient books.

In his speech,Ni Ma Zha Xi stated that digital technology offers a "non-destructive" method of preserving ancient texts. IMU and the Inner Mongolia Academy of Social Sciences have conducted systematic research on the task of protecting ethnic ancient books, overcoming a series of challenging issues in the digitization of ancient Mongolian texts, and developing an internationally advanced system for the digitization of ancient Mongolian texts.The establishment of the Ancient Books Resource Database Platform on Culture of the Northern Frontier of China embodies a deep integration of modern information technology with the protection of traditional cultural heritage, marking a significant advancement in the field of digital preservation of cultural heritage.

In his speech, Wuyunbilige stated that as an important component of human cultural heritage, the protection and research of ethnic ancient books are invaluable for preserving the diversity of world cultures and enriching human civilization.

The Ancient Books Resource Database Platform on Culture of the Northern Frontier of China provides a wealth of research materials for scholars both domestically and internationally, which can promote academic exchange and cooperation, and effectively enhance China's cultural soft power on the international stage.

Bao Yinsan said in his speech that the Inner Mongolia Academy of Social Sciences has always kept President Xi Jinping’s instructions and requirements in mind, maintaining a firm political stance and implementing high-level practices, providing important support for the establishment of the Ancient Books Resource Database Platform on Culture of the Northern Frontier of China.

At the meeting, Prof. Feilong from IMU’s College of Computer Science (College of Software) introduced the Ancient Books Resource Database Platform on Culture of the Northern Frontier of China. Jiang Dejun, the president of Inner Mongolia University Press, introduced the publication of 30 e-books on "Mongolian Ancient Books and Documents for National Unity".

The Ancient Books Resource Database Platform on Culture of the Northern Frontier of China is a large-scale integrated platform that encompasses various systems including comprehensive management of ethnic ancient documents, multi-lingual OCR for ancient books, full-text retrieval of ancient literature, intelligent analysis of ethnic ancient documents, big data visualization of ethnic ancient documents, image restoration of ancient documents and the knowledge graphs of ethnic ancient documents. To thoroughly implement the important directive spirit of President Xi Jinping’s inspection at Inner Mongolia University, IMU, in collaboration with the Inner Mongolia Academy of Social Sciences, initiated the digitization of Mongolian ancient documents and the construction of related intelligent platforms and led the implementation of the major infrastructure project of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Government, the "Digitalization Project of Mongolian Ancient Documents." During the project's implementation, full-text digitalization was carried out on 11,291 volumes (copies) of Mongolian ancient books and 129 precious ancient literary works, including 6.39 million characters and 1.163 million images, and 240,000 triples of ancient literature knowledge graph were established. The launch of Ancient Books Resource Database Platform on Culture of the Northern Frontier of China has provided significant support for the rescue, protection, inheritance, development, and utilization of Chinese ethnic ancient documents. It plays an important role in building the Culture of the Northern Frontier of China, strengthening research on Chinese history and culture, uncovering and promoting the connotations of national unity and progress contained within, solidifying the sense of community among the Chinese nation, comprehensively constructing a model autonomous region and consolidating and advancing national unity and progress.

The launching ceremony of Ancient Books Resource Database Platform on Culture of the Northern Frontier of China