THE Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts yesterday opened its new school for preserving and restoring cultural relics, which institute officials say will help address a serious shortage in the field.

“Many repairers graduated from vocational schools and universities in related majors, focusing on archeology and archeological restoration,” Jiang Daoyin, one of China’s top ceramic restoration specialists and a professor at the school said yesterday at the opening ceremony.

“Our school will cultivate undergraduates in the techniques of restoring relics for exhibition, which is more sophisticated,” he said.