China wants to catch up with the world’s cultural leaders and is building museums one after the other, at a rate of almost one per day. Among them, the Shanghai Astronomy Museum, which attracts crowds. Report from German-speaking public television SRF.
It is a museum of all superlatives. The Shanghai Astronomy Museum, which opened in 2021, is the largest museum of its kind in the world and has a unique shape. The main building does not have straight lines or right angles, but consists of several overlapping arches.
“Even at first glance, it should be clear that this is astronomy,” says Lin Qing. The official supervised the construction of the building and heads the research center of the astronomy museum: “Seen from above, it looks like celestial bodies in orbit.”
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The astronomy museum attracts crowds
The crowds are enormous. Three years after its opening, more than a million people visit the museum each year. Wendy Tao is waiting in line outside the museum. She and her son came from the neighboring province. “We tried to buy a ticket online for three days, without success. Now we try directly at the ticket office.”
However, museums do not have a long tradition in China. In 1978, the People’s Republic had only 349 exhibition halls. Only in recent decades, after the country became increasingly open, did museum construction begin to boom. 10 years ago, it already had 4,000. Today, a new museum opens almost every day and the country has 6,833.
China wants 15 world-class museums
Despite the growth of museums, their number is lower than the international average. The United States has around 35,000 and Switzerland, even tiny, 1,000. “We need even more museums,” said Liu Jian, president of the astronomy museum. “The history of a country as important as ours must be made accessible to the public through museums.”
The museum boom is encouraged at the highest level. And it’s not just about quantity: the new museums also aim to achieve international recognition. China should officially have 15 world-class museums by 2035, according to a government plan.
Museums as a platform for state self-promotion
Many newly built museums are therefore superlative museums and, like the astronomy museum, impress with their architecture. The roof of the Luoyang History Museum, which opened in 2022, is reminiscent of a bamboo forest and the Chengdu Science Fiction Museum, which opened last year, resembles a space station.
However, the museum offensive is not limited to the transmission of knowledge. For Beijing, they are also a platform for state expression. They are status symbols and an expression of new self-confidence. The objective is to show, both internally and externally, that the country is not only an economic and political power, but also a cultural power.
Claudia Stahel, SRF 1, Tagesschau, October 9, 2024, 7:30 p.m
French adaptation: Julien Furrer (RTS)
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