By You Lian

Recently, Ming Lang, a retired associate research librarian of Nantong Library, used AI technology to restore colours and process dynamic treatment on 8 old photos of Nantong, and made the second episode of Travelling through time-AI recreates old Nantong video series, which recreated the old appearance of Nantong City 80 years ago, including the Bell Tower, the East Street, the East Gate and the Wangjiang Tower.

The video recreated the daily life of ordinary people in Nantong 80 years ago. When readers and netizens watch the video, it’s like travelling through the time tunnel. Landmark buildings and shops such as the Stone Arch, the Temple of Confucius, the Kuixing Pavilion, and the Huaxin Barber Shop also appeared in the video.

‘To recreate the old appearance of Nantong, using AI to generate videos from old photos is the best way.’ Ming Lang told the reporter that he used software including Midjourney, Kling AI, and Dreamina, to restore colors of the 8 old photos and do dynamic processing.

‘The presentation effect of the second episode of Travelling through time-AI recreates old Nantong has improved a lot compared with the first episode. The characters’ dynamic processing is more natural and vivid.’ Zhu Jiang, a research librarian of Nantong Archives, said.