Museums have played a significant role in protecting the country's cultural relics and giving citizens access to various scientific objects.

According to Zhang Wenbin, director of the State Bureau of Cultural Relics, there are more than 10 million cultural relics in the 1,331 museums which are now under the administration of his bureau. Over 100 million people visit these museums every year.

Most museums depend on subsidies from governments at various levels. With the increasing number of museums, funding problems have arisen.

Although large-scale State and provincial-level museums have strong financial support from the government, many smaller museums have to raise extra funds through such activities as renting halls.

A good example of a well-funded institution is the Shanghai Museum, which gets 100 million yuan (US$12 million) from the Shanghai municipal government.

"We will cherish our good reputation and defend the pureness of our museum and keep its non-profit spirit," said Li Chaoyuan, director of the museum.

Li said he had refused many exhibitions, which may have brought in millions of yuan, simply because they did not fit the museum's style.

But many others do not have that luxury. The Beijing Nature Museum, the country's largest natural history museum, is sometimes forced to close in winter because they do not have enough money to buy central air-conditioners.

"Museums should remain non-profit organizations, but this means they cannot earn money," said Hou Jukun, director of the Department of Museum Administration of the State Bureau of Cultural Relics.

Hou, at an event celebrating International Museum Day held in Beijing yesterday, said museums should be allowed to raise money as long as it does not jeopardize their normal activities.

The Shanghai Museum has been successful in gaining corporate sponsorships. In this way, it has successfully organized many world-class exhibitions, that it might otherwise have been unable to finance.

(China Daily 05/19/2001)