Text/Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Chen Zeyun Sun Jing Correspondent Zhou Xiaoli
Photo/Courtesy of respondents
Enter the crowded Yuexiu Old Town, through the narrow Dezheng South Road, a brick red-brown single-family building quietly sits on the corner of the street, "Guangzhou Pugong Ancient Ceramics Museum" several golden words complement the dark brown wooden doors. Coinciding with weekdays, the visitor flow of the exhibition hall is not much. In the small room next to the elevator on the fourth floor, a row of tools slipped open, brushes, files, and even small electric drills for dentists, here is Pu Tingli's studio, as the permanent curator of the museum, as soon as she has free time, she will devote herself to the restoration of ancient ceramics in this small world.
Wearing glasses and ponytails, Sven Wen's post-80s girl Pu Tingli comes from a business family, his father Pu Chongliang has been working hard in Guangdong for many years, in 2013, Pu Chongliang will treasure the ceramic relics he has collected for many years to the public in the form of a museum free of charge, as the second generation of the family, Pu Tingli took on the heavy responsibility of operating the museum, and made this private museum sound and colorful.
The financial scholar who wanted to read archaeology became the curator
Born in Luzhou, Sichuan, Pu Tingli may be the first batch of "small migratory birds" after the reform and opening up. When she was a child, her father Pu Chongliang started a business in Guangdong, Beijing and other places, and she stayed in her hometown to study. During the winter and summer vacations, she took her brother, who was five years younger, and flew alone from her hometown to her father's city. "With a small love tag on her chest, the stewardess took us to her seat, and the whole plane was just for our two children."
These days went on until high school. Pu Tingli, who grew up in her hometown "free-range", is diligent and self-disciplined, and does not need adults to worry about it, and after the college entrance examination, she was admitted to Sun Yat-sen University as an outstanding student in Luzhou City.
"I wanted to read archaeology, but my mother stopped me, afraid that it would be difficult to find a job." Pu Tingli told reporters with a smile that he loved history and humanities and social sciences since he was a child, but in the end, the university still applied for a popular finance major. But unexpectedly, after going around in a circle, Pu Tingli became the executive director of the Guangzhou Pugong Ancient Ceramics Museum.
In the mid-1990s, Pu Chongliang began to intervene in the field of ceramic collection, and in 2013, under the impetus of Pu Chongliang, the Guangzhou Pugong Ancient Ceramics Museum was officially opened and opened to the public free of charge. The exhibits include ancient ceramics from the Neolithic period to the Qing Dynasty, and more than 400 pieces are on display on display on the debut.
"I'm also interested in the field itself and am best suited to take over this section. And I also believe that finance and collecting are essentially operations of the value of time. What I learned in the field of finance will not be in vain, and it can also play a role in the field of cultural collection inheritance. In 2013, Pu Tingli, who was already working in the financial field of the family business, reached a tacit understanding with his father and assumed the responsibility for the operation and management of the non-state-owned museum.
"There are 100 difficult things to wake up every day"
"At the beginning, I was a 'little white' who didn't understand anything, and I felt that every day I woke up facing 100 difficult things." Pu Tingli, who crossed the border with interest, soon realized that managing a museum is not like running a business, with clear business and quantitative indicators. "Then I'll set my own KPIs!"
The first KPI that Pu Tingli gave himself was to make the pugong ancient ceramics museum famous. To this end, she began to form a team to organize theme exhibitions and plan missionary activities to make the museum "come alive". In 2016, with the help and cooperation of the Museum of the Nanyue King of the Western Han Dynasty, Pu Tingli successfully launched the first large-scale exhibition of the Pugong Ancient Museum, "Meicheng Zaijiu - Chinese Primitive Celadon Exhibition", which won praise in the industry.
"It turns out that to hold an exhibition, you need to coordinate so many things, you have to set the theme, you have to formulate the outline of the exhibition, you must determine each exhibit, the design of the exhibition form, the publicity and so on." Mentioning this exhibition that made him "collapse" several times, Pu Tingli said that he gained a lot. In the tempering of time and again, this good learner, eager to seize every opportunity to learn and communicate with large museums, in 2017 she also went to Peking University to study museum operation management, realized her "archaeological dream." ”
In 2019, Pu Tingli also joined hands with his father as a successor to create the first non-state-owned museum in Luzhou. "Now, our process of holding exhibitions and activities is very smooth and mature, and every year we will formulate a year's outline plan in advance, implement it in an orderly manner, better display the charm of ancient ceramics, and provide better public cultural services."
At present, although the museum has only nearly 10 people, it has also formed a stable experience and division of labor. "In the beginning, I used to borrow people from my dad's company to help, but now our team can do it on their own."
Nowadays, the Pugong Ancient Ceramics Museum has won excellent results in the operation evaluation of non-state-owned museums in Guangdong Province for many consecutive years, which has not only gained popularity, but also been recognized by the industry.
Strive to realize the museum from "blood transfusion" to "hematopoiesis"
Seeing that the operation of the museum was on the right track, Pu Tingli gave himself a new KPI. Pu Tingli said that at present, the exhibition hall site is provided by the government, and the cost of decoration, water and electricity, cultural relics maintenance and storage is borne by the father's enterprise to "transfuse", and the annual investment is also more than one million yuan.
"I hope that our museum can no longer rely on family businesses, can also make their own blood, and continue to grow healthily." With a financial background, she naturally has a business thinking in the management and operation of museums, and she plans to introduce the strength of the financial community to promote the development of non-state-owned museums with capital. "We are currently preparing a museum fund to explore the path of museum commercialization."
"It's not difficult to design a good cultural and creative product, the difficulty is how to make it fire through the right business model." After the epidemic, the development of cultural and creative products has become the focus of Pu Tingli.
In recent years, with the call of the policy, many non-state-owned museums have mushroomed, and there are as many as 100 in Guangdong Province. How to make non-state-owned museums sustainable has also become a common issue in the industry. Since 2019, the Non-state-owned Museum Professional Committee of the Guangdong Provincial Museum Association has been established, and Pu Tingli has an identity and becomes the secretary-general of the special committee, and she hopes to drive the development of non-state-owned museums and form a scale effect. "We have set up a professional cultural and creative team, a design team, and a marketing team to provide services for museums willing to participate in the form of cooperation and explore more space."
What makes Pu Tingli happy is that in the face of his own "tossing", his father Pu Chongliang gave full trust. "He was a very enlightened father and we were consistent in our big goals in running the museum, so he wouldn't interfere with my attempts, but would often encourage and praise me."
Obsessed with the cultivation of cultural relics, she understands the inheritance in this way
In addition to his busy daily work, Pu Tingli is also fascinated by the repair of ceramic relics. "My dad was looking for the perfect collection at the antique market, and I was the opposite of him, looking for broken ceramics in the market to practice." Pu Tingli said with a smile.
A broken ceramic bowl, in her hands, after cleaning, stitching, filling in defects, polishing, coloring, glazing, aging and other processes, restored its original appearance, as if turning back time to reproduce the charm.
Pu Tingli told reporters that he has been learning from the ancient ceramic restoration experts and the inheritors of the national intangible cultural heritage over the years. "My father spent a lot of time and experience on the collection of ancient ceramics." Pu Tingli recalled that when he was a child, his home was full of various ceramic collections, "even a place to stay was difficult to find", at first, the family did not understand the father's behavior, but the father infected the family with his own persistence. "Now that this precious collection can be shared in the form of a museum, it is not the wealth of our family, but the wealth of the whole society, and I have the responsibility to protect and pass on this collection of our museum."
Dialogue Genesis: He gave his daughter a 90 point for her legacy
Constantly from 0 to 1, the founder's daughter pulled together to create another business
"When there is no money, rely on culture to nourish the economy, and when there is money, we must use economic development culture." In the shanghai ups and downs, Pu Chongliang, a businessman from Naxi, Luzhou, Sichuan, opened up a new world of career in Guangdong. From the production of hardware accessories to the liquor industry agency to tourism culture, newspaper advertising and the development of sewage treatment, real estate and other industries, Pu Chongliang has been successful again and again and started from scratch again. Now, he is determined to do a deep job of collecting ancient ceramics to the end. What makes him very confident is that his only daughter has become a successor in this field, "I give her a 90." Pu Chongliang talked about his daughter, couldn't help but give a thumbs up, and laughed with great satisfaction.
The museum is still burning money, why let the daughter take over?
Yangcheng Evening News: A person's entrepreneurship is always related to profit, and the investment in the museum seems to be not too much related to profit, why do you want your daughter to take over this business?
Pu Chongliang: At present, the museum is indeed an unprofitable business, and it is very important for her daughter to take over, the first thing is that she wants to like it. She likes it and will try to learn. I think that what industry makes money or not, let's not say, do people well, do things well, other money, life is not a problem. And from the perspective of the cultural and bo industry, this is a very promising career.
Yangcheng Evening News: So judging from Pu Tingli's performance so far, how many points do you give her?
Pu Chongliang: I scored 90 points. Giving her full marks she was easily proud. As a young person, she likes this line of work, but also willing to devote herself to it, and she is willing to learn from all kinds of study classes held by the state.
Most of the museum is to do public welfare and cultural benefits. You must have a sense of public morality, you must have feelings to do this, if you just want to make money, don't do it.
What is most important about the inheritance of children?
Yangcheng Evening News: From the succession of your daughter, to the education of all your children and their future inheritance, how do you consider how to lay it out?
Pu Chongliang: I hope they can all master the skills of starting from scratch. Parents can provide their children with the best educational conditions, as long as they are willing to study, we can meet any conditions.
When it comes to the start-up period, I will not let them return to my business, but give them some start-up capital, such as 1 million yuan, and then I will provide basic security in life, such as buying the first apartment, the first car. Then let them break into the world on their own. At present, my eldest son is developing according to this model, and he has also opened his own company and has his own small business.
This is where I go
Yangcheng Evening News: You have been starting a business all the way, how to plan your future?
Pu Chongliang: In the first half of my life, I did a lot of business, but the matter of doing museums was never-ending, and there was no concept of retirement. I now have a museum in addition to Guangzhou, and a museum in Luzhou, Sichuan. At the same time, I am also the director of the Non-State-owned Museum Committee of the Guangdong Provincial Museum Association, and I hope to promote the entire industry into a virtuous circle of sustainable development.
In fact, people make a little money and should make some contributions to society. I take being a museum as the last node of my life, which is the best explanation for myself. And I am very happy that with my daughter to take over, we will continue to do it, and we will always have to learn on the road to growth.