A farmer's family museum
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E-mail Chinanews, April 2, 2014
Old household items collected by Ma Dexiang. (Chinanews/Hu Youjun)
Ma Dexiang, a Hui (a predominantly Muslim ethnic group in China) farmer who lives in Pingan Country, northwest China's Qinghai province, runs a museum in his family.
His museum has over 30 thousand collections: from the painted pottery of the Neolithic Age to the blue and white porcelain of Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), from a rare stone weighing nearly a hundred tons to a gauze kerchief as thin as a Cicada's wing, from farm tools used in farming region to saddles used in pastoral region, and from Chinese bridal sedan chair to Mongolian copper stove.
Ma Dexiang, 58, has almost spent all his savings on collecting old items. He said: "I am living in the joining region of loess plateau and Qinghai-Tibet plateau. The ancient plateau culture is deep and rich here. I am trying my best to retain some of the historical and cultural symbols of my hometown."
The collections have occupied every corner of his 1,400 square meters courtyard. Now his family museum is more like a big storeroom. Ma Dexiang said: "I am willing to donate my collections to the country if any of them are of some value."
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