At a two-day international forum held at Beijing's National Art Museum of China, researchers and scholars from art museums worldwide shared their views on how to better preserve and restore artworks, so that they can be displayed for the public good in a long term.

The forum in early July were attended by experts from prestigious art institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Tate in London and the Cernuschi Museum in Paris.

The forum is part of a two-month-long training program sponsored by the China National Arts Foundation. It offers to a class of 30 people, all museum staffers from across the country, courses on restoration and preservation by senior experts in the area.

Wu Weishan, director of NAMOC, says that the program is to cultivate China's first group of "doctors of artworks" who will safeguard the nation's art properties.