Struggling private museums face demolition, closure

By Chu Meng

There are more than 2,000 private museums in the country. But most are unable to operate on their own due to a shortage of government support: either in favorable regulations or money.

Last week, the famous private Guanfu Antique Museum was brought up for demolition. Again.

Ma Weidu, a writer and collector, opened Guanfu Museum in 1996.

In the 14 years since, the country’s first private-run museum has been forced to relocate three times. Guanfu is about to start the search for a fourth new home because its current site is slated for demolition as part of a Dashanzi development project.

“I hope to find a new, convenient location in a pleasant environment before demolition. It can stay here for the next three to five years until the new site is ready,” Ma said, noting he has no intention of obstructing the government’s development plan.

A Guanfu security guard who refused to be named said Wednesday that the museum will relocate by the end of the year, but Ma denied this.

Private-run problems

The 6,000-square-meter Guanfu Museum has been a home to cultural relics for 16 years.
People come as much to see its 1,000 extraordinary pieces dating back to the late Ming and Qing dynasties as to see its founder Ma Weidu, a well-known collector.

Ma is one of the few private museum owners to have such support, an achievement due in no small part to his charisma and extensive social network. Sound management and a marketing campaign that includes regular exhibitions and cultural activities have made Guanfu the country’s only viable private-run museum.

But for most private museum owners, simply keeping the lights running is a daunting task.
“Private museums on the Chinese mainland are facing a long, cold winter,” said Ma Zishu, former vice director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

Fund shortage has forced private museums across the country to close.

Such was the case at Story of Movie Museum, China’s first private museum devoted to the history of film. Founded early this year by former CCTV talk show host and celebrity Cui Yongyuan, the 650-square-meter museum housed hundreds of copies of the Story of Movie, a documentary project Cui began in early 2003 to preserve early Chinese film.

Cui kept the doors up with the support of his business contacts. The real estate developer allowed Cui permanent free use of the two-story building.

But even so, running the museum was impossible. Cui told China Daily that the monthly operational costs of the site were about 40,000 yuan.

Many of the private museums determined to survive are relocating to Beijing’s outskirts and basements to slash operational costs, China Daily reported.