Shanghai Bodong Museum opened on February 2, and it exceeded one million visitors in just three and a half months. On the occasion of International Museum Day, people can’t help but think: Why are museums so popular?
More and more young people fall in love with visiting museums
“It’s both expected and unexpected.” Chu Xiaobo, director of the Shanghai Museum, said that since the opening of the Shanghai East Museum on trial, the popularity of visitors has been very high. Taking into account the limited opening space in the first phase, the upper limit of reception per visiting day was initially set at 8,000 people. However, on the first day of the opening, all the reservation places were snatched up in just a few minutes. According to the needs of the audience, the museum has repeatedly adjusted the upper limit of attendance, raising it to 10,000 people a day and then to 12,000 people a day. On weekends and holidays, there is also a nightclub.
There was an endless stream of visitors, and appointments were fully booked on every open day. Such a popular scene was what museum people wanted to see the most, and Chu Xiaobo was deeply moved. "As a newly opened cultural facility, the East Building has attracted great attention from everyone, and everyone wants to see what the new building looks like." In his view, the more critical thing is high-quality content and services. The two permanent exhibitions in the Bronze Hall and Sculpture Hall and the special exhibition on Ancient Shu Civilization are very popular. In particular, the ancient Shu civilization exhibition set a number of new records. The number of visitors to the special exhibition exceeded 1 million, which was the first time in the history of Shanghai Expo. The composition of the audience has also undergone some changes: audiences outside Shanghai account for more than 60%, of which foreign audiences are close to 10%. Another significant change is that the audience is getting younger, with more than 50% of visitors under the age of 35. "It shows that more and more young people are falling in love with visiting museums and the excellent traditional Chinese culture. It also reflects that the East Museum of Shanghai Bohai Sea has effectively played an important role as a window to display Chinese culture."
"The East Museum passed more than three months of trials Open, we have received a lot of constructive opinions and suggestions from the audience, which will help us sum up experience in the next stage of opening and services, and continuously improve our management and service levels." Chu Xiaobo revealed that in order to better prepare for the second stage. Open. From May 21 to the end of June, the East Building will be closed to the public. After the reopening, the open space of the East Hall of Shanghai Boshan will be further expanded to about 80%. At that time, the daily audience reservation quota can be increased to 20,000 people. After it is fully opened in November, the East Hall is expected to receive up to 20,000 visitors per day. 30,000 people, and problems such as difficulty in making reservations will be alleviated. According to the current traffic forecast, the East Hall is expected to receive more than 5 million visitors this year. In the future, after the opening pattern of the three Shanghai Expo museums is formed, it is expected to receive a total of nearly 10 million visitors, which is one of the few museums in the world.
Featured educational activities to cultivate new trends in life
In addition to collecting and witnessing history, what kind of social value can museums produce? May 18 is International Museum Day, and this year’s theme is “Museums Dedicated to Education and Research,” emphasizing the key role of cultural and museum institutions in providing a comprehensive educational experience. The Shanghai Museum uses venue resources and space to carry out a series of characteristic brand education activities and actively cultivate new trends in people's lives.
For example, on May 18, Shanghai Expo will launch two "Meet Sanxingdui" handicraft workshops for families aged 7-14 in conjunction with the special exhibition of ancient Shu civilization at the People's Square Pavilion Audience Activity Center. The morning session uses a large bronze mask unearthed from the Sanxingdui site as the main image. Parents and children are invited to use filigree techniques to feel the smooth contours of the large bronze mask and its angular facial features during the hands-on process, and learn about the sculpture art of the ancient Shu people. As well as their understanding and thinking of all things in nature and the world of humans and gods, they used turquoise colored sand to create the multi-layered colors of bronze vessels.The afternoon session will take the iconic bronze human head with a gold mask and braided hair from the ancient Shu civilization as a prototype. By observing the facial features, crown style, and hair style of the head, you can understand the hierarchical concept of the ancient Shu people and feel its rich cultural connotation and Extraordinary artistic charm, using both gilding technology and oil painting, it focuses on showing the majestic and noble momentum of the gold mask on the bronze head.
The integrated development of culture, business, sports and tourism is the current new trend and new business format. It is also the breakthrough development path that the Shanghai Museum has continued to explore and practice in recent years. This year, the Shanghai Museum of History proposed "city+" based on previous educational activities to create a new model of museum life and enhance the public's recognition of urban culture. Starting yesterday, the museum launched the third Square Coffee Carnival in the open courtyard, bringing a new cross-border way of integrating culture, business, sports and tourism in the museum. There are cultural creations, handicrafts, artistic performances and limited-edition stamps on site. The dynamic line of stamp collection connects the carnival and the museum's exhibitions.
On International Museum Day, the museum will also lead the audience to read about the Jockey Club Building, a landmark building that has stood on Nanjing West Road since 1934; special children and families will be invited to enter the special exhibition "Modern Patriotic Industrialists Exhibition". Experience AR's immersive parent-child scripted game and explore the stories behind cultural relics. In addition, students from Nanyang Middle School and Shanghai Normal University will present an immersive drama performance "China in Stories" in the exhibition hall on the fourth floor of the Basic Exhibition Hall, using red stories as a serial index to present the turbulent years before the founding of New China.
Author: Li Ting
Text: Li Ting Picture: Ye Chenliang, Library Editor: Xu Yang Editor: Xing Xiaofang
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