Ink stains have been left on the stone surfaces of many nonmovable stone relics because of ink rubbing, a traditional activity by Chinese scholars. Are these ink stains harmful to the rock of these cultural relics and do they need to be removed during protective repair? This has been one of the problems that protection workers need to solve. In order to prevent stone relics from weathering, people try to coat them with chemicals, only to find results are not ideal or even prove to be destructive. An attempt was made to seek the answer to this question scientifically by measuring the degree of preservation in known cases of existing well preserved ancient stones. This work is one of a series of protective materials performance studies for cultural relics. Through field investigation and laboratory corrosion studies, the protective effect of Chinese ink left on the stone relics is explored. In experiments with an air pollutant, SO₂, and soluble salts, it is found that ink can prevent damage from air pollutants to some extent. Also it provides some protection from damage due to crystallization of soluble salts. Water absorption studies and microscope analysis suggest that ink can fill micro cracks of rock and therefore lower its ability to absorb water, preventing soluble salts from entering and crystalizing inside the rock and thus reducing weathering.