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China Building Museums

While many countries, including Canada, where I currently live, are working to drive up tourism, I doubt that there is any place in Canada that would go as far as China in building not one, but two multimillion dollar museums in less than a decade.

One of the museums, worth $67 million USD, is called the Museum of Chinese Film and fills twenty-one exhibition halls containing posters for war movies and costumes used for early 20th century period pieces. The other is the Beijing Capital Museum, a sleek building with a foyer that is five stories high and includes a full scale copy of one of the cities oldest residential streets.

"The purpose of the museum is to explain Beijing's excellent history and culture and show them to the world," said Peng Xin, a museum spokeswoman.

No doubt this is part of their recent build up to show off the greatness of China to those coming from around the world for the 2008 Summer Olympics. It also has to do with the idea that China needs to focus on its culture and history as they move forward into being a world player in all markets. The government has said that it will open around 300 new institutions over the next ten years to focus on World War II, communism, and China's fifty-five ethnic minorities which will each get their own museum.

Don't think that these museums are the only ones to visit if you are travelling to China, as there are over 1,500 public museums in China currenty, ranging in topics from history, art and music, to tea, and fabrics.

That's right, I said that there is a tea museum. The China National Tea Museum in Hangzhou shows off the most comprehensive collection of modern and ancient tea utensils in China, and an experience not to be missed are the tea performances and tea ceremonies which you can also take part in.

You will not lack interesting and imaginative places to visit in China, even if you only get to hit up some museums.

China launches museum-building frenzy [CNN]

TAGS: china landmarks museum