China's largest private museum, the Donghua Porcelain Museum, has moved out of the Jiali Building in the downtown district of Shanghai because of lack of funds.

Before this, two other private museums in the city, the Er Dongqiang Folk Art Museum and the Liu Dalin Sex Culture Museum, also had to move from their original premises.

After some 20 rough years, many private museums are now facing serious difficulties in Shanghai, the birthplace of private museums in China.

The "Calculator Museum,'' China's first individually-sponsored museum, was opened by Chen Baoding in Shanghai in March 1981.

In the early 1990s, the country had about 80 private museums. The figure increased to 200 by 1996.

And Shanghai now has more than 60 private museums, which feature a wide range of exhibits including watches, keys, chopsticks, coins, cameras and porcelain.

But behind the cultured image of private museums, the owners are all too frequently finding it difficult to balance their books. Insiders estimate that half of the private museums in Shanghai are now facing financial problems.

Liu Chunhua, owner of the Donghua museum, said economic problems weren't a serious consideration when he first opened its doors. Since he already owned the exhibition site and had relatives to help him with the daily maintenance, Liu did not have to pay rent, or high salaries to most of his employees.

But located in the expensive downtown area of Shanghai, Liu had to pay about 100,000 yuan (US$12,000) a year for power, water and the maintenance of the museum and its collection.

From the very beginning, Liu charged no admission fees, which meant that the museum brought in no income.

"Paying its way is the most important thing for my museum now,'' Liu said. That's why he decided to move it to a small workshop on Huangpi Nan Road, a much less expensive area.

In addition to inadequate finances, the lack of supportive government policies and understanding administrative departments also make it difficult for private museum owners to carry on. Of the 60 private museums in Shanghai, only one has received approval from the municipal cultural and relics administration commission.

Er Dongqiang Folk Art Museum, with 20,000 items of folk art, was moved because the original museum building was scheduled for demolition to make way for road construction and real estate development.

In 1990, Er Dongqiang (Deke Erh) who was a press photographer bought some property in the town of Xujing in Shanghai municipality and opened a museum to display the artifacts which he had collected over 20 years during his many trips to Southeast China.

Er's museum was renovated twice in the following few years and gradually became one of the largest private museums in Shanghai.

"It's difficult to find a new place to display such a large number of artefacts,'' said Er.

Like Er's museum, many private museums have been forced to move as a result of the rapid urbanization of Shanghai, according to Zhou Lizhong, a local official in charge of museums.

"The increasing number of private museums should not be neglected. They should be given more support from the government,'' said Zhou.

Though Shanghai is frequently touted as China's most open and modern metropolis, it was still a bit hard for Liu Dalin, a sexologist, to find a suitable location to display his roughly 3,000 erotic artifacts in the country's business and financial hub.

After four years of struggle in Shanghai, Liu has decided to move his ancient erotica museum to Tongli, a town about 80 kilometers from Shanghai in neighboring east China's Jiangsu Province.

"Actually, the removal of the sex art museum is a loss for Shanghai, a city renowned for its tolerance and cultural diversity,'' said Ren Weijun, deputy director of the Shanghai Institute of Cultural Research.

Sociologists are also urging the government to give more support to museums, arguing that museums bear the responsibility of preserving cultures, especially private museums, which are born from the masses and serve the masses.

China is expected to publish a regulation on administration of museums this year. Under the new regulation, culture and relics protection departments will take charge of all types of museums, including private ones.

In Shanghai, the municipal government plans to increase investment to build 100 new museums before 2010, when the World Expo opens.

(China Daily January 8, 2004)