The interior corridor of the Bei Lin Stone Steles Museum in Xi’an, photographed in 1988, features rows of carved stone tablets mounted along brick walls. Also known as the Forest of Stone Steles, the museum integrates these “stone books” into its architecture, preserving calligraphy and classical texts through inscriptions rather than print.

The photograph emphasizes repetition, structural design, and material durability. Light, shadow, and receding columns guide the viewer through a space where knowledge is embedded in stone, uniting scholarship, craftsmanship, and endurance over centuries.