After undergoing over three years of renovations, the National Museum recently re-opened after years of arguing and revisions. Historically, the current site of the National Museum was home to two separate museums, the Museum of Chinese History and the Museum of the Chinese Revolution; they were combined in 2003 to make up the Chinese National Museum. In an effort to boost China's (specifically, Beijing's) international standing, the Chinese government decided it was time to renovate and bring the museum up to par (or at least, what they felt like was up to par).
The original plan was to have the museum completely redone, renovated and opened for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, however due to years of arguing and disagreement over the museum's content and endless revisions on the interior design, was not finished in time. Nor was it finished in time for it's second hoped-for end date, which was supposed to coincide the 60th Anniversary of Communist rule on October 1, 2009. Finally, the National Museum reopened just this past March after years and years of delay.
Since 2008, China's museums have gradually begun waiving their entrance fee, in hopes of attracting more visitors. While I appreciate free museum admission as much as anyone, in the case of the National Museum, this seems to have backfired.
Because a maximum of 3,000 people per day (2,000 from tour groups and 1,000 individuals) are allowed into the museum, in order to gain admission to the museum, you have to wake up early and be prepared to wait in a very long line.
Knowing all of this, but curious nonetheless, on Thursday I set out in hopes of going to the museum. But, no such luck. By the time I got to the museum at 10 AM, the lines to get in already closed. After questioning some of the security guards, they told me that if I arrived at 9 AM the next day, I should be able to go in.
Jump to Friday morning, I arrive at the museum and 9 AM and join the literally hundreds of other people in line. After standing in line for two hours, going through security twice and going through a metal detector and receiving a pat-wand-down, I finally was allowed inside the museum.
Now for my thoughts on the museum, in bullet points:
- The lines plus the security just to go into the museum is ridiculous. It was actually worse than the lines Disneyland and the security at the airport combined. As I said before, I ended up waiting in line for two hours and went through security twice, which included a pat-down. I don't even get patted down at the airport, why are you patting me down at a museum? It seems more than a bit unnecessary.
- Because many Chinese people still haven't figured out how to wait in lines (see a possible explanation for that here), there many museum guards stationed every few feet along the route where people line up to make sure the lines stay orderly. It's good thing China has a large enough population to support such a workforce.
- And on the subject of these guards, despite their job, they seemed to very ill-informed about the contents of the museum. One of them even admitted to me (and several other people) that he hadn't actually had the opportunity to go inside and see the exhibits himself yet, which I found very unfortunate. After all, he's a museum employee, he should be given the chance to go in and take a look, if for no other reason to be more informed and thus better help those who ask him questions.
- Why are you not letting me bring in food and water into the museum, yet you sell water, Coke and disgusting, prepackaged, unhealthy crackers and cookies at every museum corner? Clearly, you don't mind people eating in the museum. You just want to force me to buy your expensive, gross food after waiting in line for two hours.
- Speaking of being weary and hungry after that marathon line, why are there almost no benches in this museum? Their are entire gigantic spaces that are just intended to be walkways from gallery room to gallery room that are larger than my living room, family room and kitchen combined in the United States and there are absolutely no benches. The only benches I saw were a smattering on the far west and east sides of the museum and despite being on the lookout for them since entering the museum, I only saw them right when I was leaving. Benches are not only important for weary visitors to rest their feet, but also necessary for admiring art. No such luck in the National Museum. Instead everyone is basically forced to sit on the stairs or on the ground when they want to rest.
- Even in portions of exhibits that feature videos that the museum curators, at least theoretically, want you to watch, there are no seats to watch some of the videos. Instead, you either have to stand or sit on the ground and block the path for other visitors.
- Undoubtedly, the National Museum is gigantic. When designing the museum, they made sure that it would be one of the largest in the world. However, from what I saw, most of the galleries were still empty and those that were open, felt crowded with displays, particularly the porcelain exhibit. The porcelain exhibit had many beautiful works in it, but to me, it felt like it was all cram into one room, when it could have easily been split into two galleries (especially since they clearly have the space to do so). Not to mention that when you add a hundreds of visitors into that same room, the room begins to feel a bit claustrophobic.
- Speaking of the porcelain exhibit, which I believe is one of their main, permanent exhibits, why are all the captions and explanations only in Chinese? I understand with some temporary exhibits if you don't have explanations in English and other languages, but for permanent ones there should be. If you really want to compete with on an international level with other extremely highly regarded national museums such as the Louvre, the British Museum and the Prado, you need to make your museum accessible to non-Chinese tourists. In this day in age, that means English (and other languages if you can pull the resources to do so). Considering the museum was closed for three years for renovations, I doubt it would've been that hard during that time to find someone to help you translate some of the information.
- Currently at the museum there is a temporary exhibit of works form the art professors at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Since Tsinghua is the undoubtedly the best university in China, the works of its art professors is absolutely amazing. While I'm sure being on display at the National Museum is a great honor, it's almost a shame that it's on display there since the hassle of gaining admission into the museum probably keeps away many potential visitors. In fact, while I enjoyed the pieces on display immensely, I would not endure standing in that line again just to see them again.
- Though I hate to sound like a culture-snob, but some of the other visitors to the museum left a lot to be desired. It seemed like some just went into the museum to say they've been there without really understanding the content of the things inside. For instance, in the aforementioned Tsinghua exhibit, there were several pieces that featured rabbits dressed as humans doing human things. Overall the feeling of these pieces were seemed dark and somewhat sinister (at least to me). But when I was standing and admiring one of these pieces, a girl possibly about my same age squealed and ran over to the piece and excited exclaimed (in Chinese), "Oh! I like this one!" and then proceeded to make a cute, bunny rabbit face next to the picture so her friend could take a picture. It seemed that she was distracted by the 'cuteness' of the rabbits and either completely ignored or had no concept of what the artist was trying to communicate.
- Likewise, when I was in a different exhibit, I saw a woman walking around in her stockings without shoes because her feet hurt after walking and standing in line so long. While I empathize with her feet, it made me think of the signs in the US that declare, "No shirt, no shoes, no service." After all, I do think there is a level a decorum that is expected at a museum but often not seen in China. (And yes, I do realize that this way of thinking and these expectations is very 'Western' of me.)
- Lastly, a large portion of the museum is dedicated to (the Communist Party's version) of Chinese history from the Opium War onwards. This exhibit, with its overly bombastic, propaganda-style explanations almost made the two hour line worth it. It's definitely worth it's own blog post though, so keep an eye out for that.
Overall, I'm glad I went and experienced the museum, but I will not be going back. The lines and security are such a hassle that it doesn't seem worth it. The exhibits were fine, but most of it wasn't outstanding in any particular way, especially when you consider that many similarly beautiful pieces can be seen in other museums not only in Beijing or China, but also in France, Britain and the United States.
However, if you are in Beijing, looking for something to do and have a lot of free time on your hands, the museum might be worth a visit. Just remember to go early to line up, don't bring any food or drink with you, and if you must bring a bag with you, make sure it's small (it'll help minimize your wait time). Don't forget to bring either you passport or Chinese ID card (a student ID in my case sufficed too, luckily) as well. Also, be prepared to wait for a long time.
No comments:
Post a Comment