City attracts more than 80m visits in past year
Over the past year, Beijing's museums have collectively organized about 700 exhibitions and received more than 80 million visits. As a result, there is a growing interest among young people to visit museums.
This year's Beijing government work report emphasized the need to boost culture innovation and advance the construction of the "City of Museums". Officials and experts brought proposals related to that effort at the 2024 Beijing's two sessions — the annual gathering of Beijing's legislative and political consultative bodies.
"The themes of museums can cover various aspects such as science, history, culture, art and nature, showcasing rural life, traditional crafts and the ecological environment. Museums can be established in places with a certain historical and cultural background.
"Based on resources such as traditional rural residences, old houses in villages, vacant buildings and open spaces, organizers can create characteristic exhibition spaces using modern design concepts," said Liu Xue, deputy secretary-general of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
Ren Zhe, a member of the political consultative conference from the literary and art field, said that visiting museums can become a norm of life wherever one lives. It is possible to introduce mobile museums, and conduct mobile exhibitions or temporary displays in places such as parks and shopping centers. Additionally, some museums can be established in neighborhoods by setting up small museums or exhibition spaces to make museums more accessible to the public.
Saturday marked the 48th International Museum Day with the theme "Museums for Education and Research". Liu Chaoying, deputy head of the Chinese Museums Association, said during the event that museums should not be monotonous; they should have their own style. Museums should enlighten aesthetic enjoyment for people, rather than solely teaching knowledge. Good museums should stand at the forefront of culture and lead the public well.
As a world-renowned ancient capital, Beijing has a history of more than 3,000 years of urban construction. The city is home to seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 3,840 immovable cultural relics, 5.01 million pieces or sets of State-owned movable cultural relics and 102 national-level representative projects of intangible cultural heritage. In 2020, the Beijing city government proposed the construction of the "City of Museums". In 2023, the Beijing Cultural Heritage Bureau released the draft of the city's development plan for the construction of "City of Museums" (2023-35).
The plan emphasized the displaying role of the two key spatial axes of the city: the Central Axis and its extension and Chang'an Street and its extension. It said the city will promote Dongcheng and Xicheng districts to take the role of the core functional areas of the capital. It also supports the construction of demonstration zones in Chaoyang, Haidian, Fengtai and Shijingshan districts under the framework of the "City of Museums" and guides innovation-driven development in Shunyi, Daxing, Changping, Fangshan and the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area. The plan also encourages the districts of Mentougou, Pinggu, Huairou, Miyun and Yanqing to refine local cultural resources and become a model of developing ecological environments.
By the end of 2023, there were a total of 226 registered museums in the Beijing area. Ten museums were named national first-class museums in the 2024 Beijing Museum Month on Saturday, according to government officials. The plan sets a target for the total number of museums in the city to exceed 260 by 2025, achieving 1.2 museums per 100,000 people. By 2030, the total number of museums in the city is expected to exceed 360, with 1.6 museums per 100,000 people.
