뉴스레터

Visit to China after 4 years

  Over the past three years, there have been many restrictions on foreigners entering China due to COVID-19. In March of this year, when the COVID-19 outbreak reached a lull, China finally resumed issuing tourist visas to foreigners. This was good news for me, who studies Chinese archaeology. This is because the opportunity to observe and analyze artifacts on-site has opened up again. However, recent changes in the political and social environment such as Korea-China relations, the anti-China/anti-Korea atmosphere, and the implementation of the Anti-Espionage Act have made people hesitate to visit China. However, under the belief that academic activities should continue independently of political and social issues, I finally decided to visit China in August. The visit destination was set to be a museum in Liaoning Province, China. Personally, it was my revisit after 4 years.

  While preparing to go to China, I noticed that many things had changed from the past. The amount of personal information required to apply for a visa online was considerable. And China had switched from a cash payment system to a digital payment, almost skipping the card payment system. So, we had to install separate Chinese applications such as WeChat Pay, and Alipay, which are similar to our Kakao Pay, and use them in conjunction with a credit card. Although it was not true that they did not accept cash, digital payments using QR codes have become routinized.

A transformed Chinese museum

  There were many changes in the Chinese museum I visited after 4 years. Digitalization throughout Chinese society has also applied to museums. Medium to large museums in China require online reservations before visiting. However, this is also done through a mobile phone application. In addition, foreigners are unable to make reservations because they require a Chinese phone number to be entered when making online reservations. Of course, you can make an on-site reservation and enter by making a phone reservation or scanning a QR code on-site, but if the museum is fully booked on the day, you will not be able to enter. It is said that there is a constant reservation war

for popular museums such as the Palace Museum and the National Museum. Fortunately, in most of the museums I visited, it was possible to enter through designated procedures on site.

  Additionally, museum exhibitions were also clearly digitized. Recently, museums across China have been providing individual online exhibition services. For example, in the case of the Liaoning Provincial Museum, in addition to on-site permanent and special exhibitions, it provides 3D virtual exhibition services through its website and cloud exhibition services through mobile phones. This may be a result of efforts to popularize museums during the coronavirus pandemic.

  In the case of the Shenyang Museum, which recently opened on the site of the old Liaoning Provincial Museum, efforts were made to add various visual devices, such as digital techniques, to effectively convey the nature of the artifacts, breaking away from the exhibition technique of simply displaying artifacts and adding brief explanations. It seems that they tried to break away from the somewhat mechanical and dry exhibition methods of past Chinese museums.

  Meanwhile, the number of ordinary people visiting the museum has increased noticeably. Unlike in the past when most local museums, excluding major museums, were quiet, key local museums were crowded with families and school visitors who visited the museums on vacation, with people waiting in line to enter even on weekdays, so it was not easy to observe artifacts calmly, let alone take pictures.

China’s museum revitalization policy

  In the 21st century, China actively fostered the cultural industry at the governmental level and set the goal of building a socialist cultural powerhouse with Chinese characteristics. Among them, the importance of the museum is emphasized as a channel for disseminating research results in archeology and history that show China’s long civilization. Through this, we hope to increase national unity and national pride among the people, especially youth. Meanwhile, in the spirit of emphasizing the Chinese national community of ‘plural unity’, local museums in northeastern China also emphasize the relationship with the Central Plains region, so some changes in the exhibition composition were also discovered, such as exhibiting relics from the Central Plains regardless of context and elements of local culture being less highlighted.

  In addition, elementary, middle, and high school students are encouraged to visit museums after classes or during holidays and vacations, while museums are also requesting to develop and implement educational programs. Recently, the integration of culture and tourism has been promoted to promote economic revitalization of rural and underprivileged areas through cultural resources. As a result, unlike in the past, the number of visitors to local museums is increasing.