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China's National Museum: 100 years of history

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China's National Museum, near Beijing's Tian'anmen Square, is celebrating its 100th anniversary. The museum is the largest in the world. Here are 100 years of its history.

This is Guo Zi Jian, the Imperial College of the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Exactly 100 years ago today, an office for the National Museum of History was opened here, at the suggestion of scholar, Cai Yuanpei. It's believed to be the earliest predecessor of China's National Museum.

In 1918, the National Museum of History was moved to the Forbidden City. In 1950, the National Revolutionary Museum was also set up within the walls of the Forbidden City.

In 1958, construction of the new site of the two museums began. They're located at the east side of Tian'anmen Square, and in 2003, the two were combined into one, to become the National Museum.

China Nationl Museum. [File photo]

Renovation work on the National Museum began in March, 2007. Four years later, on March 2011, the museum reopened. The newly renovated building occupies an area of 200,000 square meters, three times its original size. It houses 48 exhibition halls, and is the world's largest museum in terms of area. Its collection has also been expanded. Before renovation work began, it housed 650,000 relics. Now it boasts 1.2 million artifacts, thanks to the government's donation of 400,000 pieces, previously owned by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

The museum hosts two permanent exhibitions, the "Ancient China" exhibition and the "Road to Revival" exhibition. Since reopening last March, it's hosted some 50 temporary exhibitions.

Lu Zhangshen, Director of National Museum of China, said, "The success of China's economy has allowed us to invest more in cultural restoration projects. The National Museum is a symbol of this."

China's National Museum aims to offer its visiting public some of the rarest and most prestigious exhibitions in the world.