"8 Plus" museums welcome International Museum Day

Visitors look at the painting 'Maria with Child and Singing Angels' by Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli in the art museum Gemaeldegalerie during the International Museum Day (IMD) in Berlin, Germany, 13 May 2018. [Photo: IC]

Cultural activities are in full swing across China to mark the International Museum Day, which falls on this Friday.

CRI's Su Yi brings us the story of one of the activities happening in Beijing.

The worldwide community of museums is celebrating International Museum Day, which falls on May 18.

As part of the celebrations, eight museums representing the former residences of some of China's cultural icons have teamed up as part of an initiative they've been running for almost 20 years.

This year's theme is call "Hyper-connected Museums: New approaches, new publics".

Zhao Xiaojie, the curator of the Guo Moruo Memorial Museum, says the alliance of museums now includes participants from outside Beijing, in a move encouraged by the government to better integrate Beijing with its neighboring areas.

"First, the '8 Plus' alliance is a cross-regional collaboration. Originally, the members were 8 museums in Beijing. Later, it expanded to the Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei area. Now it is across the country. The regional collaboration integrates the resources of the museums, so as to enhance the soft power of our country. Second, it is a cross-industry collaboration. There are writers, revolutionaries, scientists, and artists among the participants. "

Wang Hongying, the curator of the Lao She Memorial Museum, explains the operating model of the "8 Plus" museums.

"At the beginning we only focused on cultural icons from the 20th Century. Now we have extended the scope to include contemporary icons. Many relics, manuscripts, masterpieces, lectures, performances, along with big data are incorporated into our exhibitions. We also introduce works written by our own staff, fans, and experts. "

Li Xueying, director of the museum for the Former Residence of Soong Ching Ling, talks about how they are working to attract young people to the museum.

"An exhibition of cheongsam owned by the Soong sisters was held months ago. It takes a lot of effort to bring these rare relics together. The elder and younger sisters had never seen each other since the latter left the Chinese mainland. 70 years later, the exhibition brings them together here in Beijing. It displays the history hidden of this stylish Chinese dress to young people. We don't instill tedious stories into them. What they like is what we offer."