University museums have attracted more and more attention from the society.
On March 30th, 2007, at the press conference of "China County Tourism Brand Selection Campaign" held in the Great Hall of the People, Jilin University Museum was selected as one of the top 200 scenic spots of county tourism brands in China. On this list, Beijing Badaling Great Wall, Guizhou Huangguoshu Waterfall, Sichuan Jiuzhaigou and other scenic spots are impressively listed.
In June 5438+February last year, China Geo University Museum was approved by the National Tourism Administration as the first national 4A-level scenic tourist area in China universities. Share 4A honor with Zunyi Conference Site, Old Town of Lijiang, Xishuangbanna Tropical Flower Garden, Anyang Yinxu Museum, Suzhou Liuyuan and other famous scenic spots.
Frequent external waves show the strength of university museums, and also show the desire of society and universities to share their wealth collections in today's high-speed economic development in China. However, compared with the hustle and bustle of the outside world, most university museums still remain calm in the past, silently guarding their unique treasures.
Xu Shiqiu, deputy director of the Museum of China Geo University, said: "The wave of technological modernization and economic globalization requires university museums to strengthen their own construction and publicity, take a completely open road and realize real resource sharing. Completely opening up means opening up to the society in all directions, breaking through the wall, stepping out of the ivory tower, completely facing the society and facing the public. "
"Golden Mountain" Buried in Campus
Since 1980s, the supporting facilities of foreign first-class universities have deeply touched the administrators of universities in China, and universities have begun the climax of campus construction. As an important part of campus construction, the restoration and construction of museums can be described as "rapid". In just over 20 years, university museums in China have grown from more than 20 in the past to more than 150 today. Some have a history of forty or fifty years, and some have a history of nearly a hundred years. Their collections range from tens of thousands to 65,438+10,000, many of which are national treasures.
In terms of the number of collections, the number of collections of 150 university museums exceeds the sum of seven famous museums such as the Forbidden City, the National Museum, the Shanghai Museum, the Nanjing Museum and the Henan Museum. It is no exaggeration to say that the university museum is a "treasure" buried in the campus, but it is little known because it has lived in the campus for a long time and stuck in a corner.
Geological museum, Peking University, founded in 1909, is the earliest geoscience museum in China. The collection of specimens is rich, including thousands of rare fossils, minerals, rocks and other types of specimens, which have even become the world standard. There is also a set of extremely precious and exquisite paleontological fossils donated by the former Soviet Union in the 1950s.
The Aviation Museum of Beihang University shows the dream of flying, and it is the first museum reflecting aerospace technology in China universities since the founding of the People's Republic of China. In the main exhibition area, nearly 40 planes of different periods are neatly arranged on the tarmac. There are fighters, bombers, transport aircraft and other models. Every plane and every crash has its historical origin and the story behind it. Famous planes such as "Black Widow", "Harrier" and "Beijing No.1" are internationally recognized as priceless cultural relics. Among them, there are only two black widow warriors in the world.
The museum of Tsinghua University Academy of Fine Arts has nearly 30,000 Chinese and foreign works of art, ranking among the best in the art collections of domestic fine arts colleges. Its collection features China's ancient paintings, ceramics, furniture and embroidery. 1983, in the largest and highest-level national painting and calligraphy appraisal activity organized by the Ministry of Culture since the founding of the People's Republic of China, 2 15 of the nearly 300 paintings and calligraphy works collected by the museum were selected as national fine works. In addition, the museum has collected more than 200 works by famous modern painters in China, such as Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong, Zhang Daqian and Wu Guanzhong.
Chengdu University of Technology Museum is the largest natural geoscience museum in western China. There are more than 6.5438+0.2 million specimens in the collection, and there are a lot of rare treasures. There are more than 20 precious dinosaur skeleton specimens in this museum, which ranks first among the national university museums in terms of quantity and variety. Its "treasure of the town hall" is Mamen Xilong in Hechuan, with a total length of 22 meters and a height of about 10 meters from the ground when looking up. It is not only the largest dinosaur in Asia, but also the dinosaur with the longest neck in the world.
The Museum of Biology of Sun Yat-sen University has 860,000 collections. It is the only university museum in China that has a large number of precious biological specimens at home and abroad and has the characteristics of animals and plants in South China. It consists of three herbarium with a long history: herbarium, animal herbarium and insect herbarium. The earliest specimens were collected in 18 17, and the herbarium was built in 19 16, international code of botanical nomenclature. The Bamboo Specimen Garden attached to this museum has collected 1 10 species of bamboos from various regions in China, which is extremely valuable information in bamboo research.
China Geo University Museum has a history of 23 years. There are more than 30,000 geological specimens in the collection, including nearly 3,000 rare ones, including the dinosaur fossils with a body length of 10.5 m and a body height of 6. 1 m-the Manchurian dragon fossils in Heilongjiang; The longest and most complete king of ichthyosaurs in the world ―― the ichthyosaur fossil in Liangjiaguanling: the largest sea lily fossil in the world, with an area of15m2.
There are several China firsts in university museums in Shanghai. The Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine is the first museum specializing in the history of traditional Chinese medicine in China, which contains the famous "elixir of life" unearthed from the tomb of Wang Xizhi's sister in the Jin Dynasty. Oriental Musical Instrument Museum of Shanghai Conservatory of Music is the first musical instrument museum in China Art College. Taiwan Province Gaoshan Cultural Relics Collection The Gaoshan Museum of Fudan University is not only the largest in Chinese mainland, but also many cultural relics are hard to find in Taiwan Province Province, which is very rare. In addition, hundreds of Shang Dynasty Oracle Bone Inscriptions are also spectacular in China.
"National beauty and fragrance" was ignored.
The university museum is like a "cultural card" displayed by the university to the society, which adds profound cultural connotation to the institutions of higher learning that exude rich books. However, although many university museums are full of treasures and open to the public every day, their beauty is silent and few people care.
In Peking University, when a reporter asked the students about the Sackler Archaeological Museum of Peking University, most of them said they didn't know. Only one student pointed out the direction, but he never went in, only saw the sign in front of the door.
In Sechler Archaeological Museum, there are only two staff members chatting at the ticket office. For more than an hour, only two Liaoning civil servants studying in Peking University visited the empty hall. They just walked around the campus. The staff said that few people usually come to the museum. At least, I haven't seen anyone for a day. Only during the summer vacation will some students come to visit. At Beihang Aviation Museum, the reporter only saw one tourist.
This is the case in Beijing, and so are university museums in other cities. Although there are many university museums in Shanghai, only a few of them are slightly famous in society. Many university museums are not only unknown to the public, but also feel "strange" to college students. According to a random survey conducted by Shanghai Science and Education Party Committee in colleges and universities, only about 50% of students in most university museums know about it, and some museums are less than 30% well-known. In recent years, with the upcoming 20 10 Shanghai World Expo, Shanghai residents' interest in "going to museums" has increased year by year, but university museums have not been integrated into Shanghai's museum culture for a long time.
The scarcity of tourists reflects the low utilization rate of university museums at present. Yan Xu, secretary-general of the Museum Professional Committee of China University, said: "The utilization rate of museums in China University is generally lower than expected at the beginning of construction, and some are even lower than 20%." Peking University, Jida and other universities have rich collections and high popularity, and the utilization rate of museums is relatively high, but most university museums are still not fully utilized and their popularity is not wide.
The scarcity of tourists means a huge waste of collecting wealth. So, what is the reason for this situation?
In the interview, the reporter found that some university museums do not pay much attention to the number of visitors. They think that the number of visitors is an index pursued by social museums and should not be used to measure university museums. The orientation of university museums is teaching and scientific research. As for publicity to the society, the museum director of a famous university simply said that we are a funding unit and do not need to publicize to the society.
In this regard, Song Xiangguang, deputy director of the Museum Professional Committee of China University, believes that although the number of visitors is not the main indicator, if the number of visitors in university museums is large, it can not only make better use of the cultural relics resources of universities, but also fully reflect the importance and social role of university museums, thus gaining the attention and input of schools and society. Under the premise of not affecting their own scientific research and teaching, all kinds of school museums should further expand their opening to attract social tourists.
Ma Jixian, an expert in museum science at Sichuan University, commented that university museums are full of a strong flavor of planned economy, and staff salaries and office expenses are borne by the school finance. Of course, there is no pressure and no motivation.
The exhibition content and methods of the museum also determine the number of visitors. Sheng Changli, vice governor of Zhejiang Province, once criticized: "Some museums have not even moved for 20 years, and the things inside have long been out of date. How can anyone like to watch them? " In fact, the contents of the exhibition are outdated, the exhibits are scarce, the exhibition is rigid, illustrated and lectured? These are common problems in many museums in China, and they are also serious problems in university museums.
After visiting a school museum, a Beijing resident bluntly said that what depressed him most was that some museums had displayed the same faces for years. The basic display of history always starts with the tools made by human beings, and then there are several bronze dings and several pieces of pottery, with a description of 200 words beside it. The description is so professional that I don't know many words, let alone allusions and stories. He thinks the museum is a classroom. To attract the public, we must first make the static knowledge of museums lively and interesting.
Outsiders generally believe that ceramics, paintings and bronzes handed down from ancient times are an important part of our national cultural heritage. Whether it is collected in university museums or social museums, more people should appreciate their elegance. There are very few natural science museums in China, and the contradiction between social supply and demand has become very prominent. However, most university museums are natural science museums, which are precisely the types of museums that are extremely lacking in society. Therefore, keeping it in boudoir and idle storeroom should not be the way for an ancient civilization like ours to treat cultural heritage.
In order to share these treasures with the society, the Ministry of Education specially implemented the project "Construction of Online Public Resources for Modern Distance Education ―― Construction of Digital Museums in Colleges and Universities" on 200 1. At present, the digital construction of 18 university museum has been formed and displayed on the internet, but when the reporter clicks, many web pages cannot be opened.
The museum is struggling for survival.
Faced with external criticism, colleges and universities have their own difficulties. Curators of university museums are all part-time. They are first and foremost academic leaders. Like other professors, they should shoulder the task of teaching and scientific research. Working in the museum is purely voluntary, which will affect the normal operation of the museum to a certain extent. When Song Xiangguang talked about this, he was very helpless: "As the deputy curator of Peking University Secler Museum and the teaching work of the Archaeological and Cultural Institute, I have to give up my love for these two jobs, and my focus can only be on the latter."
The most important thing is money. Yan Xu said that from a national perspective, museums have shown several trends. First, large-scale, large investment and high quality will be more suitable for the tastes of modern people, but it cannot be done without strong financial strength. Second, the present museums emphasize people-oriented, the interaction between exhibits and visitors, and the layout and design of exhibition halls also need financial support. Third, the collection of exhibits. Usually, the exhibits will be changed after a period of exhibition, otherwise, there will naturally be fewer and fewer visitors, and the collection and replacement of exhibits is not a simple matter. In addition to financial factors, some exhibits are inevitable. Therefore, the updating speed of the exhibits in the venue is still very slow.
But museums are generally difficult to make a profit, especially university museums. University museums are managed vertically by the school and rely entirely on the investment of the school. Every year, the school takes out a "museum maintenance fee" as expenses such as utilities, wages, etc., and there are almost no business expenses such as collection renewal and exhibition. The only income is tickets, but the ticket income is very small.
It is understood that the highest annual income of the Art Museum of the Central Academy of Fine Arts is only 60,000 to 70,000 yuan, including ticket income and venue rental income, while the school's annual investment in the Art Museum is 350,000 yuan, but even these investments can barely maintain the operation of the Art Museum. The annual income of Beihang Aviation Museum is only 50,000 to 60,000 yuan, and several planes with high cultural value can only stay in the open air, because they can't afford to build a shed for it.
As a result, it is difficult for museums to seek development, let alone spend money to collect more cultural relics and collections. The Museum of Biology of Sun Yat-sen University once took a fancy to a Sastre ichthyosaur fossil unearthed in Guizhou. Only three of these fossils have been excavated in China, but there is no money to pay for the collection. Later, the provincial people's congress came to inspect and made a decision on the spot. The Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, the Association for Science and Technology and CUHK jointly invested 6.5438+0.6 million yuan, leaving this precious ichthyosaur with a length of 7.8 meters in Guangdong.
Due to the shortage of funds, it is still common for collections in university museums to pile up in warehouses. It is not that museums are unwilling to show good things to visitors, but because of the limited exhibition space and supporting facilities, the cultural relics that can be exhibited can often only account for a small part of the collection. Due to the narrow exhibition space, the Museum of Anthropology of Sun Yat-sen University faces 1000 collections, especially the most precious Shiwan ceramics in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Its practice is to temporarily package all the collections.
In this case, the museum can only take turns to exhibit, but every time it changes exhibitions, it has to invest a lot of manpower and material resources. If possible, it may be changed once every two years. If there is no condition, the collection and furnishings will remain unchanged all the year round. When other cultural relics lying in the warehouse will meet the audience will be in the foreseeable future.
Not only university museums, but also lack of funds is the biggest problem for museums in society. Zhang Wenbin, chairman of the Chinese Museum Society, admitted that about two-thirds of the more than 2,300 museums in China are struggling to survive due to lack of funds, mainly in the central and western regions, and most of them are small and medium-sized museums. It is reported that three-quarters of the 8,000-square-meter exhibition hall of the Anhui Provincial Museum has been removed to become a storefront for holding various trade fairs. Some media exclaimed that the museum has become a "shopping carnival".
Go to the society and find a new position.
Compared with museums eager to find a good way to survive in society, university museums are really too quiet. To fundamentally solve the problems faced, university museums must go out and find a stable "anchorage" in the market economy. Ma Yisheng, director of the National Museum of Yunnan University for Nationalities, believes that the integration of university museums into society is not only the requirement of social development, but also the need of university museums. Only in this way can we achieve sustainable development.
"To get out of the boudoir, we must first change our concepts and clarify the essential attributes of university museums." Weng Tiehui, deputy secretary of science and education of Shanghai Municipal Committee, believes that most university museums are built according to disciplines, which reflects the profound cultural heritage of the university. It not only has the functions of collection, teaching and research, but also has the social function of cultural communication. "But in fact, many university museums often only pay attention to the former and ignore the latter."
It is exciting that some university museums have entered the society. The Museum of China Geo University, located in 4A scenic spot, is a model both inside and outside the school. It has long set its sights on the society and taken the road of all-round opening. Now it has built the museum into a new museum integrating education, tourism, leisure and shopping. The museum is equipped with domestic advanced central air conditioning, a multi-functional demonstration hall, and a large number of sound, light and electricity technologies are used. Here, the audience can not only enjoy the world's first magnetic levitation globe with a diameter of 1.5 meters, but also experience the earth tremor brought by artificial seismic stations. In order to expand its popularity, museums often use bus advertisements to create momentum in society to attract more social tourists.
The marketing operation level of this museum is impressive even to museums in the society. He has toured all parts of China for one year, exhibiting "China Large Dinosaur Exhibition" and "Earth Mystery Exhibition", passing through five provinces 16 cities, attracting as many as 600,000 visitors.
Sichuan University Museum, which has the reputation of "the most perfect museum in Southwest China", will build the new museum near the school gate, with the front door facing the road and the back door facing the campus, giving consideration to teaching, scientific research and serving the public. The museum opened the market with large-scale theme exhibitions, and successively launched "Painting and Calligraphy Exhibition in the Ming and Qing Dynasties", "Fashion Style-Clothing Exhibition in the Late Qing Dynasty", "Crystal World-Special Exhibition of Porcelain and Snuff Bottle" and "Millennium Dream-the Essence of Cultural Relics Unearthed in Sanxingdui", all of which achieved good social and economic benefits.
Compared with the university itself, some local governments have invested more enthusiasm in university museums. Shanghai has raised university museums to the level of city soft power, and regarded them as intangible assets that can be added again, which is related to the image of a metropolis. As early as 2005, the Science and Education Office of Shanghai Municipal Committee and the Municipal Education Commission officially named 10 University National Culture Museum. Since that year, they have subsidized 80,000 yuan to the school where the museum is located every year, and the school invested 1: 1 for the overall packaging and publicity of the museum, and organized the reception of young people and citizens. In March this year, Shanghai held the first joint exhibition of university museums in China. Shanghai 1 1 University museums broke their own "walls" and went to the society and opened their doors to the public. After the joint exhibition, all university museums in Shanghai will be open to students free of charge, and universities will also attract a large number of community residents to visit by joining the Shanghai Tourism Network and selling joint tickets.
The Guangzhou Municipal Government has also proposed that all kinds of museums and herbarium in colleges and universities will be gradually opened to the public and serve their teaching and scientific research.
Professor Li Mingguang, curator of CUHK Biology Museum, suggested that the museum resources of Guangdong universities should be integrated and a world-class natural history museum should be built near Xingang Road and other universities, which should be managed and displayed by the government. This not only improves the collection conditions of university museums, but also makes full use of university collection resources and scientific and educational resources to serve the society. At the same time, it fills the gap that there is no large natural history museum in Guangzhou. If it is well integrated, it will become a heavy tourism resource in Guangdong.
Peng, former director of the Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Culture, suggested that university museums are also tourism products, and should be combined with other museums in Xiamen to open up a "museum tour" route and be included in the tourism map of Xiamen. For example, Xiamen Museum-Gulangyu Piano Museum-Daqiao Museum-Lu Xun Memorial Hall of Xiamen University-Anthropology Museum of Xiamen University. This is a combination of museums. At the same time, there are a combination of museums and other scenic spots, such as Gulangyu Island, Xiamen University, Hu Lishan Fort, Xiamen National Accounting Institute, Jimei School Village, Jimei University Town and Aoyuan.
Peng Wan further put forward the concept of management. "The museum itself is a non-profit unit, but it can have many business projects", such as souvenirs, calligraphy and painting, catering, video recording, photography, photocopying and mailing services. Most foreign museums do not rely on tickets to make money, but turn the ticket economy into a consumption economy and a service economy. However, there is a premise that it must be effective under the condition of ensuring a large number of tourists.
In order to strengthen communication with the outside world and expand its influence, 77 university museums have joined the professional committees of university museums, but as the secondary units of the China Museum Association, their functions are very limited.
Song Xiangguang said that it is imperative to seek a government department that can lead the development of the industry to be a "mother-in-law". "Due to the lack of industry development managers, there is no clear understanding of the development status of university museums, the source of funds is not guaranteed, and the development direction and planning are not clear."
Song Xiangguang admits that university museums, as a special group, have first-class professional collections in China, but their social education functions are very weak and their real functions have not been brought into play. At present, the consciousness of university museums going out on their own is not strong, and there is still a lack of consensus on how to break the "fence" and go to society.