In Chongqing, Visually Impaired Students "See" Artifacts Through Touch, Sound and Scents
IChongqing
2nd November 2026
In Chongqing, Visually Impaired Students "See" Artifacts Through Touch, Sound and Scents
By DENG, NAN
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.
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