China has opened thousands of new museums, but who wants them?
- Experts say many are white elephant projects designed to advance officials’ political careers, with little benefit for locals
- The number of museums in China has risen to more than 5,100, from 349 in 1978
In a county near eastern China’s Taihu, a new museum featuring the large freshwater lake opened this month.
The seven-floor structure – designed by the American architect Marshall Strabala, who was involved in the design of renowned skyscrapers like the Burj Khalifa in Dubai – is the fourth newly built museum in Changxing, Zhejiang province, in three years.
The number of museums in China has risen to more than 5,100, from just 349 in 1978, and they were visited nearly 1 billion times last year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration said last week.
However, top state-owned museums account for most of the visits, and smaller ones – many of which were built as vanity projects by local governments – are often empty of both exhibits and visitors, according to the experts.
It is no secret that thousands of the new museums – which cover a wide range of subjects, from history, art, nature and science to folk culture – are not utilised to their full potential, said professor Leksa Lee, who specialises in global China studies at New York University Shanghai.