Art

While the world's most popular museums are, strictly speaking, not all art museums, the British Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Louvre in Paris and the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg all share an exquisite awareness of beauty, according to Zhang.

Founded in Paris in 1946 as the international organization of museums and museum professionals, the International Council of Museums in 1951 proposed museums should be for enjoyment and education. They added "research" in 1964 and promoted the three Es – "Educate, Entertain, Enrich" – a standard concept nowadays in the West, according to Song.

"Visiting a museum is but a journey for experiencing beauty," Song said. "It's hard to expect one to maintain the exact memory of a single exhibit, but the overall enjoyable experience of beauty functions invisibly to cultivate the human soul."

Founded by Zhang Qian in 1905, China's first public museum by contrast promoted the same concept as exists in China today: "Education strengthens the nation."

In 2005, the government permitted museums around the country to open free to young people. From March 10, 2008, Shanghai Museum offered 5,000 tickets free every day. About 200 million visitors were expected during the first year of free tickets, up from 114 million visitors including 480,000 foreigners in 2007, according to Information Office of Shanghai Municipality.
For this year's International Museum Day themed as "Museum and Tourist" on May 18, Shanghai Cultural Heritage Administrative Committee gave out brochures on about 60 minor museums dotted about the four subway lines, according to Shanghai-based newspaper Youth Daily.

"The problems of China's museums include many aspects: policy, marketing, financial support, all of which can be attributed to the current cultural administration," Yan said.

Shang Hong works for Beijing Folk Art Museum, the only state-owned folk museum in Beijing. Lack of money meant only one exhibition this year: black-and-white photos of Dong Yue Temple fair in the old days.

Thanks to the poor quality of the information, one 28-year-old Spanish tourist asked when the 100-year-old defunct fair would be opening.

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