In early summer every year, International Museum Day comes as scheduled, and cultural and museum venues around the world continue to innovate exhibitions and launch high-quality exhibitions with different themes. As the "museum fever" continues to heat up, more and more citizens are attracted to go out of their homes and enter museums. Especially in the past two years, visiting museums has gradually become a popular way of life for young people, so in their spare time, they can find a museum to visit and then share their experience on social media.
At the same time, there are many young people who have turned museums into a part of their careers, either devoting themselves to the cultural and museum industry, devoting themselves to promoting museums, or becoming senior enthusiasts, checking in and even finding fault for museums, or turning their love of visiting exhibitions into holding exhibitions, and opening their own museums to become owners. On the occasion of the 48th International Museum Day, the Beijing News reporter interviewed a number of friends who love and are immersed in museums, and talk about several things with museums.
1
Exhibition supernumerary "proofreading" bow tearing machine (screen name):
To "pick a thorn" for the museum, you can't let the cultural relics not be seen clearly
Due to the lighting effect, the ornamental details of the bronzes are difficult to identify by visitors. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
I am a museum lover, and since 2019, I have visited more than 500 museums across the country. Although I visited a lot of museums and saw a lot of exhibitions, I, like many tourists, always walked out of the museum with some doubts. It is a common situation that the layout of the display often does not meet the needs of the audience. Therefore, I have been calling for the museum to give more "possibilities" to tourists.
Some time ago, the new Yinxu Museum was officially opened to the public, and I visited the museum in early March, and I was very disappointed after reading it. The hardware of the display cabinet is backward, and the black situation under the lamp is serious. In particular, the lighting in the exhibition hall of the Yachang Tomb is extremely dim, and the experience of the visually impaired is not reasonably considered. In addition, in some exhibition halls, more than a dozen bronze jukes are placed in a row, and a total of several rows are exhibited, and they are all placed at the same angle, and if you look closely, you can only see one side, and you can't see the other sides at all. This kind of perception is equivalent to watching dozens of bronze knights, but I still don't understand what it looks like.
When I visited the museum, I followed the tourists to see the bronze jukes, and some of the display case labels said that they were beast-faced jukes. The tourists were suspicious for a long time and could not find the animal face pattern. If you look over and look at it, you can only see half of the ornamentation on the bronze lord, and it is difficult to see the whole picture of the ornamentation. I have always believed that the essence of a museum is to display cultural relics well, not just put them out for you to see, but not clearly.
Of course, there is also the question of the design of the circulation of the exhibition. In some exhibition halls, exhibitions on the same theme are arranged in a zigzag pattern, and visitors cannot look in one direction, which is a waste of time and interrupts the experience. In addition, taking pictures of the exhibits is also a problem. In some museums, you can take pictures with your phone or use a flashlight to get blocked, but as long as you don't turn on the flash, it's fine.
I think museums need to improve in terms of humanized services. For visitors with physical disabilities and reduced mobility, the museum may also have a wheelchair stroller. But there is a lack of planning for dim lighting that is not friendly to the visually impaired. There are also 16 million visually impaired people in China, who also have the right to see history with their own eyes. In addition, some museums have multimedia interactive exhibition areas, and with the height of children, they can't see the content of their presentations at all. This shows that the museum has inadvertently ignored the characteristics of different groups of people.
As for the "fault" of the new Yinxu Museum, the museum also found me, and we communicated and exchanged views on the direction of the exhibits in the museum, lighting effects, and the line of sight.
As a viewer, I think that for a national treasure to shock me, the premise is that I have the perspective and convenience to see it as clearly as possible.
2
Cultural and creative worker Zhou Hairong, who learns design:
I "reproduce" the classics, and you take the "cultural relics" home
Tiangong caisson cultural and creative products. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
I work at the Museum of Ancient Architecture in Beijing. I studied design, and now I am in charge of the cultural and creative development of the museum and the management of the cultural and creative space. Seventeen years ago, I was already working on cultural and creative design at the Beijing Cultural Museum Exchange Center. At that time, Beijing's museum cultural and creative undertakings were still in their infancy, and they had gone through a process of slow exploration.
After more than ten years of development, the museum's cultural and creative products have undergone greater changes, and now the cultural and creative products can more and more reflect the unique connotation of the museum. Cultural and creative products must not only have a very beautiful appearance, but also have good materials and processes, and also have practical functions.
We will "reproduce" the heritage building in an interesting and novel way, and express its art form and structure as much as possible. In the exhibition hall of the Tai Sui Hall of our museum, there is a magnificent and exquisite Tiangong caisson well, which is made of six layers of main frames, and each layer of the frame has a finely carved moire pattern, which is exquisite and unique as a whole. We simplified the "deconstruction" of the Tiangong caisson into five layers, which consisted of five layers of coiled metal adsorbed together to form a refrigerator magnet, and each layer was drawn according to the real structural design of the caisson. These five layers can be placed separately or stacked together to restore a three-dimensional and complete caisson structure. The last astrological map uses luminous materials, and when exposed to sunlight, it emits a faint glow in the dark, and you can feel the sea of stars in the night sky.
This refrigerator magnet of Tiangong Caojing is very popular with everyone, and on social media, many tourists spontaneously post "planting grass", saying that it is "the ceiling within the ceiling". Slowly, more and more people know about the Tiangong caisson of Longfu Temple, and they will come to the ancient building hall to experience for themselves what it is like to stand under the Tiangong caisson.
The ancient building museum has been doing cultural and creative work for more than ten years, but the first cultural and creative space was opened on February 4 this year, and the second cultural and creative space was opened on April 18 with the opening of Shencang Temple. Nowadays, people think of visiting museums as a regular activity, and sometimes elderly people come to visit us for walks. Our cultural and creative products are very popular, and there are many tourists who come to visit, so it can be said that the ancient museum has "lived" because of the cultural and creative products.
Cultural and creative products are not boring and cold objects, not just a refrigerator magnet, postcard, bookmark, the museum's cultural and creative products are made by combining cultural relics and its own cultural elements and historical information. The cultural connotation of each cultural relics is different, when making cultural and creative products, in addition to the use of the appearance elements of cultural relics, its "content" must also be attached, to introduce cultural and creative products are derived from a certain cultural relic, so that people can understand its historical information when they see this thing, which increases the historical value and artistic value of cultural and creative products. If cultural creativity is not applied to the culture carried by cultural relics, then there is no soul.
When people bring cultural and creative products home from the museum, they also bring back the memories and mood of visiting the museum at that time.
3
Wang Zicheng, an overseas student majoring in cultural heritage:
I want more people to see the lost cultural relics
The spear of the king of Yue in the collection of the British Museum, according to the introduction of the label of the booth, the owner of this spearhead is Zhu Gou, the king of Yue. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
The year I became an MA student in Heritage Studies at the Institute of Archaeology at University College London (UCL), I went to the British Museum. The museum is located opposite the University of London, and the school has a research collaboration with the museum, and our lectures are often conducted in the museum. At that time, the cultural relics in the China Pavilion were naturally one of the things I was looking forward to the most, and I decided to take some high-definition photos to give the Chinese people a clearer understanding of the Chinese cultural relics that had been lost to the UK.
In the late Qing Dynasty, a large number of our cultural relics and treasures were lost overseas, and gradually appeared on the booths of major overseas museums. The British Museum has been part of the museum's collection since its founding in 1753, and its collection has grown to around 23,000 pieces.
I still remember when I first opened the map of the British Museum, I found that because of the abundance of cultural relics, Chinese jade, porcelain, calligraphy and painting were exhibited in multiple exhibition halls. Most of the treasures in the exhibition come from Sir Fiscialare David's life's collection, which he donated to the University of London and later put them on display. These collections bear the date name or year inscription, which is of great significance for the study of the dating and production of Chinese ceramics.
As far as I know, the Chinese cultural relics on display in the British Museum include stone tools from the Neolithic Age, painted pottery from the Yangshao culture, bronzes from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, lacquer and jade from the Han Dynasty, and art categories such as Tang and Song dynasty sancai, five famous kiln porcelain, Yuan blue and white, and enamel ware, spanning the entire history of China. On a display case in the China Pavilion, I saw several exquisite pieces of gold, silver, and copper with hooks, some of which were embedded with turquoise.
In addition, I have seen a lot of wrong gold and silver bow bearers. Some of the wrong gold and silver products on display in the museum are said to have been proved to be from the Jincun Tomb in Luoyang. I was also impressed by the collection of the Yue Wang spear in the British Museum, according to the introduction of the booth label, the owner of this spearhead is the Yue Wang Zhu Gou. This reminds me of the Yue King Goujian sword who is far away in China, and I don't know when they will be able to meet across the mountains and seas. I believe that many domestic visitors to the British Museum will feel the same way as me.
The day before International Museum Day, my friend and I went to the British Museum again, and this time we saw a different Chinese gallery than I had seen before. When I visited the museum this time, I saw the map of the Forbidden City restored by Qiu Jinxian, a senior restorer of the British Museum, and I was very shocked. Every time I visit the exhibition, I take some pictures and go back. In particular, I photographed these Chinese cultural relics that have been lost overseas and posted them on relevant media platforms, hoping that more culture lovers, historical relics researchers, and even ordinary people can see what belongs to us.
4
Tang Shiwei, popular science blogger of the Department of Archaeology of Peking University:
Recommend the museum in the way of a young person
In 2003, Tang Shiwei interned at the Feitian Tibetan Temple in Doutuan Mountain, Jiangyou, Sichuan. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
I run the "Ancient Cat Accompanies You to the Museum" account on the short video platform, and now I have more than 500,000 fans, and the number of fans on the whole network has exceeded more than 2 million. Behind the "Ancient Cats" is a team of professional content, with a quarter of them graduating from archaeology.
I was a science student and later entered the Department of Archaeology at Peking University. After graduating, I worked in the conservation of cultural relics for a few years, and I realized the importance of doing science popularization. Although the protection of cultural relics is a professional matter, it also needs to have a mass base. The simple participation of the public, or even not to destroy, is a kind of protection in itself, because there are often some cases of good intentions doing bad things, such as the tour guide telling everyone that a certain cultural relic can make a fortune by touching it, which is actually not conducive to the protection of cultural relics.
As long as the value of the cultural relics is stated, everyone will at least know that it is particularly valuable and will not be destroyed.
"Qin Shi Huang's super-large BMW and sports car figures" and "Aixin Jueluo big gold cup, designed by Director Hongli himself", our videos will use witty language and Internet hot words to describe cultural relics, plus the ancient cat "holding up" next to it, singing and gagging, netizens think it is very interesting. Sometimes there are few scenes of ancient cats, and netizens will send barrages to "refund tickets", so we will quickly add drama to ancient cats. As long as the knowledge is in the right direction, these "sugar-coated shells" can be wrapped in two more layers, which can also be more conducive to dissemination.
To make a short video of cultural relics, you generally have to consult twenty or thirty papers, and when you read the papers, you will find some interesting points, and even find the topic of the next video.
We hope that our short popular science videos can make museums popular, so that the videos are not only for enthusiasts, but also in an interesting form to make the public like them. In the video message, some people will say that these cultural relics are in the museum near their home, and they must be visited. Being able to let people go to the museum is also one of the values of our videos.
In addition to short videos, we also have audio explanations in collaboration with museums. How can a person who doesn't know much about museums go about a museum easily? In public and private, in fact, I really want to recommend the explanation of the ancient cat, there is it on the public account, the explanations are written by us, the style is more humorous and funny, suitable for young people.
History is also futurology, and it will be easier to see the future if you read more history. The museum is a relatively quiet place with artifacts and a lot of wisdom left by old ancestors. When stepping into the museum, the scale of time is stretched and it gives people a sense of stability.
5
Director of the Museum of Private Collections Zhu Xiaodi:
Collect the beauty of Chinese architecture that has been left behind
A Ming Dynasty hump from Qi County, Shanxi. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
I am an architect and am very interested in traditional Chinese architecture. Due to the nature of my work and personal hobbies, I always take every opportunity to travel and visit traditional buildings in various places. In the stage of rapid urbanization in China, traditional buildings are facing large-scale demolition and construction, and some ancient villages and ancient buildings have been destroyed. It is a pity that the beautiful wooden components "fell off" from the old house and were abandoned.
I have been collecting these beautiful wooden components for decades and have wanted to organize and study them systematically. Gradually, I collected more than 20 types of components of traditional Chinese architecture. I thought that these "good things" should be seen more by the world, so that people can feel the charm of architectural components up close, and appreciate their historical and cultural value. So, in 2022, I opened the Hobara Museum. This year, 18 May, International Museum Day, is also the second anniversary of our museum.
The name of "Fayuan Museum" comes from the "Construction of Fayuan" written by Yao Chengzu in the late Qing Dynasty, and "Yuan" refers to the laws, techniques and styles of folk construction traditions, which is consistent with the fact that most of the exhibits in the museum come from folk architecture. In addition, it was also chosen to pay tribute to folk architecture and craftsmen.
The exhibition hall of the Fayuan Museum covers an area of just over 300 square meters. Traditional Chinese architecture is composed of pedestals, roof trusses, roofs and other parts, including a large number of complex wooden components, such as columns, beams, corbels, humps, Shu columns, melon columns, vertical columns, finches, hanging fish, ceilings, etc. The above-mentioned wooden components can be found in the corresponding collection of the Fayuan Museum, which come from Shanxi, Shaanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and other places.
At present, there are more than 600 items in the museum's collection, and more than 100 can be seen in the museum's exhibition halls. As the traditional buildings were destroyed due to different factors, some of the exquisite components ended up in the hands of local collectors, while others remained on the collapsed construction sites. In addition to the above two ways to obtain the collection, one of my teachers in the collection of Chen also transferred part of his collection to me.
If I had to recommend exhibits from the museum's collection to tourists, I would recommend Hump. The hump is a kind of skidwood component used to support the upper beam head and resemble the back of a camel in ancient Chinese architecture. In our museum, you can see hump members of different sizes and different patterns.
In addition to the permanent exhibition hall, we also have a temporary exhibition hall, and we have temporary special exhibitions 4 times a year. These exhibitions are also related to our traditional architecture. As the director of this niche museum, I often think about the relationship between the culture of traditional architecture and modern development. I also feel that we should not be sad to see the disappearance of traditional buildings from the broken wooden components, but also feel the flowing historical culture and cultural memory from these high-quality components.
6
Volunteer docent Liu Xiaobo, who is a communicator:
The narration may plant a seed for the audience
In 2019, Liu Xiaobo explained the exhibition of overseas lost murals at the Millennium Monument. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
I am a volunteer docent and the director of the Fahai Temple Mural Art Museum. In total, I have 8 years of volunteer experience in explaining, and the cumulative explanation time is more than 2,000 hours.
In 2014, I left the IT company where I had worked for 12 years. At that time, I had already visited most of the cave temples in the Central Plains, and since I had a lot of time, I decided to take a trip to Hexi to visit the grottoes, and the final destination was to go to Dunhuang.
That time, I drove over the ridge and walked through the village and alleys, because there was a big hole in the road collapse, and I took half an hour with a sapper shovel to fill in the soil before the car could pass. I went to Bingling Temple, Jinta Temple, Manjusri Mountain, Yulin Caves, and then to the East Thousand Buddha Caves. In the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, I and a docent watched and discussed all the way, and entered more than 30 caves, and I could only see 16 caves including the special caves I bought. Finally, the young man asked with great interest, which cave do you want to see?
Although my body was tired, my mind was very excited, and I was excited that I had not deviated from self-study for many years, not only could I have a dialogue and discussion with professional people, but my thinking was also correct. The joy of this self-knowledge is indescribable.
What was more important about that trip was the experience of Xiaoxitian in Xi County. The shocking full hall of colorful sculptures in the Xiaoxi Tianda Hall is unimaginable: a remote place, an unknown cultural relics and monuments, can be so wonderful. And if I hadn't been going to see Hukou Waterfall and passing by here, I wouldn't have come at all.
When I passed through the Yellow River on the way back, I was still thinking, not to mention Xiaoxitian, how many Chinese in Xi County could know. Don't say you know, how many Chinese can pronounce and write this "Xi" correctly? However, there is such a wonderful house full of colorful sculptures here. There are so few people here, and even if they do, a few can understand the story of the statues. And how many unknown national treasures are there in the country like Xi County Xiaoxitian!
At the beginning of 2016, the Museum of Ancient Architecture and the Museum of Stone Carvings recruited the first batch of volunteers, and when I passed through the Yellow River, the idea came back to me, and I thought it would be good to explain in a fixed museum first. After passing the interview, I started volunteering, and I've been doing it ever since.
What exactly is a good explanation? If you just tell the audience what this is called and what it is called, no matter how gorgeous the rhetoric and accurate data are, it seems meaningless. I began to try to explain the context, logic, reasoning and then saying the conclusion, so that the audience listened to the framework of acquiring knowledge, and if they were willing to learn in depth, then they would study and supplement it themselves under the framework. Gradually, I developed my own style of explanation, which is something that many viewers who like me may like.
In 2016, I was teaching to a group of middle school students at the Museum of Ancient Architecture. There was a little boy who followed me all the time, and he was very knowledgeable and could talk to anything. At the end of the lecture, the little boy ran out of the line and bowed to me. It dawned on me that maybe I could really change someone or something. Later, when I explained, no matter how many people or how small, I explained without reservation, and maybe planted seeds for the audience that would sprout after many years. That's what museum volunteering is all about.
I was asked how to be a volunteer. I always ask, do you have a heart to share and a passion for tirelessly? Can you get inspiration in a sentence in your life, in an inconspicuous line in a book? Be aware that these can be incorporated into your explanations, and be willing to update your explanations and continue to improve.
If you can do that, then come and become a communicator in the museum.
Beijing News reporter Zhang Jianlin Wang Jingxi
Edited by Zhang Shujing and proofread by Jia Ning