China News Service, Taizhou, September 24th, Question: Zhejiang Culture Observation: Why do entrepreneurs open museums?

  Author Strict Tong Xiaoyu

  In Zhejiang Tiantai, in addition to the scenic spots and scenic spots, the locals also recommend visiting the Hehe Human Culture Park.

  In the local area, a picture of "Hehe Erxian" is often seen.

In the picture, one person is holding lotus flowers, and the other is holding a treasure box, showing the beautiful friendship of mutual respect, mutual love and harmonious coexistence.

The box and the lotus have the same pronunciation as "harmony", and later generations use the lotus flower and the treasure box to imply harmony and harmony.

The prototype of "Hehe Erxian" is Hanshan and Shide in Tiantai Mountain during the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

  Tiantai Hehe Renjian Cultural Park is the first folk museum in China with the theme of Hehe culture, with a collection of more than 3,000 objects; there is a rattan art museum, which houses nearly a thousand pieces of "one rattan" art; there is also a red wedding hall in Mantang, which reproduces the rooftop. Traditional wedding customs and culture.

Photo courtesy of Yiteng Art Museum rooftop and Herenjian Cultural Park

  Such a big "fight" is not from the local cultural and tourism department, but the personal collection of Shen Zhongming, chairman of Zhejiang Mingfeng Industrial Co., Ltd.

  Coincidentally, Zhou Jianming, president of the Association of Travel Agencies in Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province, also opened a museum.

The collection here has expanded from stones to red culture, old wood, brick carvings, etc., with a total of more than 260 categories.

  There is also a precedent for private entrepreneurs in Zhejiang to open museums.

The Red Dragonfly Group, which is good at making shoes, has set up a shoe culture museum in Yongjia, Wenzhou;

  According to the relevant data of the Zhejiang Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics in 2022, there are 402 museums in Zhejiang, including more than 200 non-state-owned museums.

The proportion of museums run by private entrepreneurs is not low among non-state-owned museums.

Photo courtesy of Rooftop Hehe Museum Rooftop Hehe Human Culture Park

  Why do entrepreneurs want to open museums?

  In fact, the "cost" of running a museum is a bit high.

  First, operating expenses are not a small amount.

Shen Zhongming said that the museum's venues could have developed tourism projects, but he would rather pay to open a museum; secondly, if there is no perseverance, some collections may not be collected even if they are rich.

  Shen Zhongming said that since 2012, they have begun to collect historical materials of Hehe Culture, and have traveled to Japan, Shanghai, Ningbo and other places to search for objects representing Hehe Culture.

Today, the collections here include wood, metal, and ceramics, and geographically, they cross national borders.

Photo courtesy of Hehetang Rooftop and Heherenjian Cultural Park

  It is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and expensive. What are entrepreneurs looking for?

  Shen Zhongming believes that it is to let culture empower the development of enterprises.

  In addition to opening the museum, Shen Zhongming integrated the local Hehe culture into the "one rattan" of Taizhou folk woodcraft.

Products such as interstitial screens, hanging screens, screens, tables and chairs, and sofas are derived from "one rattan", providing consumers with a variety of choices.

  Marriage custom is the most festive and popular form of expression in the Hehe culture, and it has been displayed in the cultural park.

However, Shen Zhongming was not satisfied with a single cultural communication. He began to undertake traditional wedding and wedding ceremony business, creating a "rooftop model" for Chinese wedding ceremony.

  "I hope that the culture can be 'lived' and entered into the homes of ordinary people." Shen Zhongming said that the Hehe Human Culture Park carries his own feelings for the Hehe culture.

Photo courtesy of the rooftop of Mantanghong Wedding Customs Museum and Herenjian Cultural Park

  In his view, as a Tiantai person, he has the responsibility to protect, inherit and promote the culture of harmony.

The best way to promote culture is to hide it in life, so that culture is everywhere, and can even be touched and used in life.

  It is good to let business develop because of more cultural connotation, and let culture be better inherited because of business.

(Finish)