You don't need a reason to visit a museum, because it's a part of life


The power of museums

  May 18 is International Museum Day.

The theme of this year's International Museum Day is "The Power of Museums", which aims to highlight the enormous potential and powerful energy that museums have to influence the human world.

  In 1905, China's first public museum, Nantong Museum, was established.

After 100 years of development, China's cultural and expo business is now full of vigor and vitality.

  You can see the bronze civilization thousands of years ago at your doorstep

  On the morning of May 15, the Fujian Museum was very lively, and the crowd waiting to watch the exhibition outside the exhibition hall 1 meandered in the rain and fog.

  In order to help this year's International Museum Day, from May 12, the "Drinking the River Water Together - Special Exhibition of Bronze Civilization in the Yangtze River Basin" will be launched.

It is understood that the exhibition focuses on 55 first-class cultural relics including 12 unearthed cultural relics from Sanxingdui.

  "Bronze figures with golden masks, goujian from Yuewangzhou, bronze tiger statues... You can see the bronze civilization thousands of years ago at your doorstep. It's worth getting up early on weekends!" Chen Muxin, a citizen waiting to enter the venue, couldn't hide his excitement. .

  Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has attached great importance to cultural development, emphasizing the need to strengthen the protection and utilization of cultural relics, strengthen historical research and inheritance, and continuously carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture.

From the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which put forward the goal of "a powerful modern socialist country" and "a country with leading comprehensive national strength and international influence", to the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Reform and Development of Museums", it is clear that by 2035, my country will basically become a world museum powerhouse. The museum business has entered a new stage of high-quality development.

  The most intuitive change is reflected in the quantity.

The number of museums in my country has continued to grow, and the proportion of free openings has steadily increased.

According to statistics, during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the number of museums in the country increased from 4,692 to 5,788, and an average of one museum was completed and opened every two days; 100 million person-times; achieve the development goal of having a museum for every 250,000 people on average, among which Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and other provinces have reached an average of 110,000 to 130,000 people owning a museum, and more and more people enjoy Museum resources and services.

  The reporter noticed that while comprehensive museums and thematic museums have won favor, a large number of museums with the themes of folk memory, intangible inheritance, industrial heritage, modern and modern remains, and daily necessities continue to enrich the museum structure system.

In 2021 alone, a number of new museums will be opened to the public, such as the History Exhibition Hall of the Communist Party of China, the Memorial Hall of the National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and the China Grand Canal Museum in Yangzhou. Hubei and Suzhou Museums welcome new museums, Qinghai Provincial Museum, and Chongqing Baiheliang Underwater Museum. The exhibition renovation was completed, and a number of non-state-owned museums such as the Fujian Shimao Maritime Silk Road Museum were completed and opened.

  More and more people fall in love with a city because of a museum

  Nanjing, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, uses the 650-year-old Ming city wall to record its history and style.

In the city, at the foot of Zhonghuamen Urn City, a Nanjing City Wall Museum with concise lines and full of modernity has established a "dialogue" between the new building and the old city wall.

  For the audience who have been to Nanjing City Wall Museum, the design of the buildings here is the same structure of ancient and modern, breaking the time and space division, as if it can overlap the continuous flow of Laomendong District with the prosperity of the ancient capital in the past.

  As an important palace for the protection and inheritance of human civilization, museums are bridges connecting the past, present and future, and also undertake the important responsibility of empirically interpreting historical culture, guiding value orientation, and cultivating aesthetic taste.

  At the opening ceremony of this year's International Museum Day China main venue event, the top ten exhibitions of national museums in 2021 were born, and the "Remain true to the original intention, remember the mission" exhibition of the history of the Communist Party of China was among them.

  "Don't forget the original intention, keep the mission in mind" is the first exhibition after the completion of the Chinese Communist Party History Exhibition Hall.

Through more than 2,600 pictures and more than 3,500 sets of cultural relics, the exhibition shows visitors the magnificent century-old history of the Communist Party of China in an all-round, whole-process, panoramic and epic manner.

"Many contents have been learned many times in class, but after visiting, the feeling is obviously different. Here, we can personally experience the hard work of generations of Chinese Communists, feel the rapid development of our country, and further strengthen our determination to serve the country. " said a visitor who came to visit during the Qingming Festival this year.

  Only by knowing where it came can you know where it is and where it will go.

Between square inches, a thousand years at a glance.

Various museums are not only the preservers and recorders of Chinese history, but also witnesses and participants in the struggle of the contemporary Chinese people to realize the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

  2018 marks the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up.

"The Great Change - A Large-scale Exhibition Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Reform and Opening-up" magnificently reproduces the glorious course, great achievements and valuable experience of comprehensively deepening reform and expanding opening-up in the past 40 years of reform and opening up, especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. With the great changes in the production and life of the people, the Chinese nation has ushered in a great leap from standing up, becoming rich, and becoming strong.

  In 2020, the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 left heavy memories, and also witnessed the Chinese nation's feelings of family and country that stand together through thick and thin and help each other.

At a time when the whole country is fighting against the epidemic, many local museums have also started the collection and preservation of representative witnesses of the new crown pneumonia epidemic prevention and control.

  "Contemporary witnesses are an important part of the museum's collection system. Collecting, preserving and displaying these witnesses bearing the spirit of the Chinese nation and the memory of the times is an important responsibility and mission of our museums," said Guan Qiang, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

  It is not only cultural relics, but also cultural self-confidence that emerges in our hearts.

  A song and dance poem "Remembering the South of the Yangtze River" activates "Fuchun Mountain Residence"; a song "Only Blue and Green" dances the green and green of "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains"... One-to-one reproduction of the artistic conception of the picture, told through dance The story of cultural relics, the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Tiger in 2022, will make the phenomenon-level "breaking circle" of traditional Chinese cultural and museum aesthetics staged again.

This scene can't help but be reminiscent of the "Tang Palace Night Banquet" that was "out of the circle" before.

  From "Tang Palace Night Banquet" to "Only Blue and Green", modern art invariably seeks creative inspiration from ancient national treasures and successfully "gets out of the circle".

According to Ma Xiaolin, director of the Henan Museum, they "exploded" because they found the point of convergence between traditional culture and modern life, making cultural relics "tide", "live" and "moving", and awaken people's history Memories and cultural identity, generate emotional resonance.

"It is not only the cultural relics that are 'living' and 'tide', but also the cultural confidence that emerges in our hearts."

  In order to activate the vitality of cultural relics, various museums find more matching points in various ways.

  Some use the live broadcast to shorten the distance and break the mystery.

In March last year, more than 500 precious cultural relics such as giant bronze masks, bronze sacred trees and ivory were unearthed at the Sanxingdui site.

From the once niche love to today's public expectations, Sanxingdui's first step is to live broadcast the process of "upgrading" archaeological excavations to the public.

  Some have moved the preservation, protection, restoration, analysis and identification of cultural relics to the "front stage" through "window display".

The Three Gorges Cultural Relics Protection Technology Base is an important part of the China Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing. Here, the audience can not only observe the cultural relics protection and restoration being carried out by the cultural relic restorers through the glass window, but also experience the cultural relic restoration work in person.

  Some innovative expressions, strengthen the transformation and dissemination of archaeological achievements and historical research results, and tell the stories of cultural relics and archaeology.

"Immersive" archaeological blind box, "Grassland Stone Man" bottle opener, Silk Road souvenirs, cultural relic ice cream... In recent years, various museums have combined the characteristics of their own collections, made great efforts in creativity, created exclusive IP, and let cultural relics Integrate it into daily life and bring new life to "old antiques".

Under the creativity and technology blessing, the Henan Museum Huaxia Ancient Orchestra makes the music cultural relics in the courtyard a self-contained system.

Based on a number of achievements in ancient music research and restoration performances, they combined with digital holographic technology to continuously improve the immersive performance of ancient music, and performed ancient music on the world stage to demonstrate cultural confidence.

  Make good use of cultural heritage and make the world a better place

  In May 2021, after the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Reform and Development of Museums" put forward the "implementation plan for the creation of world-class museums with Chinese characteristics", many well-known domestic museums set "world-class" as their development goals.

  The cultural relics collection is the core resource of the museum, and the rich collection is the foundation.

The strength and confidence to create a world-class museum comes from the splendid culture nurtured by my country's long history.

But at the same time, we must also see the problems existing in the development of museums.

  Wei Xuefeng, chief expert of the Sichuan Museum, pointed out that the current problem of "a thousand exhibitions" in museums and exhibitions has exposed the dilemma of insufficient renewal of cultural relics collections.

In this regard, some industry experts mentioned promoting the standardization and informatization construction of collection archives, promoting high-definition collection of cultural relics in collections at the same time as planned preventive protection, and establishing a digital resource library to achieve lasting protection and sustainable use.

  Protecting cultural heritage and making good use of cultural relic resources is an important responsibility of museums, and the research and display of collections are the key.

The "2020 Global Theme Park and Museum Index Report" mentioned that the quality of Chinese museums in terms of exhibits, activities and educational programs has improved significantly in the past two years.

This is a favorable foundation for my country to create a world-class museum, but it is necessary to accurately extract and display the spiritual identity of Chinese excellent traditional culture, and also to strengthen the content construction, and further improve the level of research, interpretation, display and dissemination of cultural relics.

"We must do research first to convey scientific, authoritative and correct viewpoints to the audience. And when we interpret these contents, we must also combine the characteristics of the times and pay attention to the way the audience groups receive." Director of Hubei Provincial Museum Fang Qin said that the premise of telling Chinese stories well is to consider how the audience accepts them.

  Digitalization and innovative expression are powerful "assistances" for the high-quality development of museums.

At present, museums and technology are deeply integrated. The development of new technologies such as 5G, VR, and AI helps to continuously optimize museum services, make museums more accessible and engaging, and help audiences understand complex and sophisticated concepts.

"However, some deliberate digital applications appear rough, which not only reduces the value of cultural relics, but also easily causes damage to cultural relics. We still have to follow the principle of content in the application and innovation of advanced technology." A museum enthusiast said.

  The museum is a window, which can show China's image to the world, highlight China's style, and express China's voice.

In a previous interview, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage stated that to guide China's museums to the world stage, it is necessary to move from "cultural relics outreach", which mainly displayed artistic, scientific and historical values ​​in the past, to telling Chinese stories well and promoting the common value of mankind contained in Chinese culture. , enhance the attractiveness and charisma of Chinese civilization.

  Our reporter Chen Yao