China News Service, Zhengzhou, May 19 (Reporter Han Zhangyun) Zhu Xiaohui's "Red Newspaper Documentary Exhibition", which has been busy for a long time, opened at the Luoyang Jinshiwen Museum on May 18th. It was International Museum Day. The executive curator of the museum.
"We specially plan this exhibition to welcome the International Museum Day. The newspapers, periodicals, and documents collected in the museum before and after the founding of New China will be displayed to the public. The exhibition will last until after the National Day."
Luoyang Jinshi Characters Museum is located in Luoyang City, Henan Province. It is a historical thematic writing museum created by private capital.
In 2012, Zhu Xiaohui and his brother Zhu Xiaojie founded this museum.
The museum's collections are mainly composed of oracle bones, bamboo slips, seals of the Qin and Han Dynasties, brick inscriptions of the Han and Jin Dynasties, inscriptions of past dynasties, and rare books of ancient books.
There are many famous historical and cultural cities in China like this private museum.
Strolling through the streets and alleys, you may meet a museum unexpectedly as soon as you look up. They may be based on a certain site, a certain skill, a certain person, and a certain period of history. They may not be large in scale, but they can always make people within an inch. From this, we can see the rich history of the city and the vivid atmosphere of the fireworks in the world.
The picture shows the audience visiting the Luoyang Centennial Phonograph Museum.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
According to statistics from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China, as of the end of 2020, there were 5,788 registered museums nationwide, with more than 29,000 exhibitions and more than 225,000 educational activities, receiving 540 million visitors and hundreds of millions of online audiences.
A modern museum system with rich types and diverse subjects has basically taken shape.
Among them, the sudden emergence of non-state-owned museums is the reality of the current development of Chinese museums. Its niche collections and unique positioning are a force that cannot be ignored in the protection and inheritance of human civilization.
Located in Luoyang Kindergarten Normal School, the Luoyang Centennial Phonograph Museum is a private museum dedicated to displaying audio-visual historical materials.
Zhang Jianluo is the founder of this museum. In 2015, he took out his collection of nearly 40 years to share with the public.
In this museum, the audience can see all kinds of phonographs produced between 1882 and 1945, Chinese and foreign vinyl records and old film copies of a century ago, and they can also watch a black and white old movie in a small movie theater. It is like going back to the past through a time tunnel. The unique visiting experience makes this museum a place for internet celebrities to check in.
As a folk collection enthusiast, why should you share your collection with the public?
Zhu Xiaohui said with a smile: "It's not as good as everyone's pleasure to be happy alone."
Zhu Xiaohui said that there are more than 5,000 textual cultural relics and specimens in the museum, which are collected by two generations of the family for more than 30 years. It is his father's wish to display the collection to the public and share the culture.
"Although these collections are now kept by us, they will all belong to the country and society in the end, and we should open and share them to the public."
Zhang Jianluo also said that chatting with visitors from all over the country about the history behind the collection is his greatest daily pleasure. "It is the value of my creation of a museum to help you review history and understand the past."
Of course, private museums also have their own problems, lack of professionals and limited space, but the most difficult thing is insufficient funds.
"Leasing of premises, staff salaries, and daily exhibition arrangements all require expenses. These expenses are nearly 200,000 yuan per year (the same below). The museum is open for free and income is very limited." Zhu Xiaohui said that the museum mainly relies on the "blood transfusion" of his brother's enterprise. To survive, he is also optimistic about the future. "The government has begun to support private museums, and we are also integrating research, culture and creativity to strive for our own'blood-making' as soon as possible."
And Zhang Jianluo hopes that film and television companies can cooperate with his museum, "This can help solve some of the funds, but also revitalize and use these precious audio-visual materials, and perhaps create value for the development of contemporary art and literature."
Through combing through the reporters, it is found that some places in China have introduced policies to support the development of private museums.
For example, in Suzhou, the maximum subsidy does not exceed 2 million yuan for newly built, rebuilt, or expanded private museums with a building area of more than 700 square meters.
Zhengzhou grants a subsidy of up to 45% of the annual rent for the use of leased or self-owned properties as non-state museums, with a maximum subsidy of 500,000 yuan.
At the same time, non-state-owned museums enjoy the preferential treatment of public welfare institutions in terms of land, taxes, and fees in comparison with state-owned museums, and the prices of electricity, water, gas, and heating are subject to local residents' standards.
Yan Tiecheng, a historical and cultural scholar, believes that folk collections are a very important part of cultural relics collection, which makes up for the lack of official collections and should increase support for private museums.
"Although the collections of many private museums are not considered cultural relics, the testimony of social development has left precious historical memories and is of great significance to the inheritance of historical culture." (End)