China plans to establish a group of modern, well-equipped museums in the next few years while it is encouraging businesses and individuals to join the endeavor.
The state will support some key museums which represent the nation’s image while drawing on businesses and individuals to invest in specialized museums, Zhang Wenbin, chief of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH), said Thursday in Beijing.
At the opening ceremony of the national conference on museums which started on Thursday, he stressed that regardless of whether the museums are state-owned or privately owned, they must serve the society and their sole aim should not be for profits.
The SACH will give the museums more administrative rights, introduce a competitive process in selecting curators and grant more awards to talented or diligent professionals, he said.
Meanwhile, the SACH will make primary preparations for the proposed national museum in coming years.
In 1905 Zhang Jian initiated China’s first museum in Nantong City, east China’s Jiangsu Province. Till 1999, China had roughly 2,000 museums, including the most technologically advanced ones like the Shanghai Museum, Henan Museum, Shaanxi Museum of History, Arts Hall of Nanjing Museum and China Museum of Science and Technology.
Nationwide museums hold more than 12 million relics and organize 8,000 exhibitions annually, which attract 150 million domestic and overseas visitors.
(People’s Daily 10/13/2000)
