Museums in China

An examination of museums in China, surveying their development from the nineteenth century, and looking in particular at their incredible recent proliferation.

An examination of museums in China, surveying their development from the nineteenth century, and looking in particular at their incredible recent proliferation.

Museums in China have undergone tremendous transformations since they first appeared in the country in the late nineteenth century. Futuristic, state-of-the-art museums have today become symbols of China's global cultural, economic and technological prominence, and over the last two decades, the number of Chinese museums has increased at an unprecedented rate, with China set to become the country with the highest number of museums in the world. But why have museums become so important?
This book, based on extensive research in a number of the museums themselves, examines recent changes in their display methods, narratives, actors and architectural style. It also considers their representations of Chinese national identity, millenarian history and extraordinary cultural diversity. Through an analysis of the changes affecting not only what we observethrough museums, but also the verymedium of observation (i.e. museums themselves), this book provides a unique, original and timely exploration of the ongoing changes affecting Chinese society, and an evaluation of their consequences.

Dr Marzia Varutti is apost-doctoral fellow at the Centre for Museum Studies, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo.

Introduction
Cultural Heritage in China
Museums in China: Origins and Development
New Actors in the Chinese Museum World
Museum Objects and the Chinese Nation
The Nation in the Museum
The Politics of the Past
The Representation of the Past in China's Museums
The Politics of Identity
The Museum Representation of Ethnic Minorities
Techniques and Sites of Display of Ethnic Minorities
Conclusions: the New Museums of China
Appendix: List of museums in China visited by the author
Bibliography and References