Airport.ca the travel blog

APR

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: museum china landmarks

JUL

Vienna's Hip Appeal

"After only four years of operation, the Museum Quarter has become one of the world's 10 largest and most popular museum and exhibition venues, rivaling the likes of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Pompidou Center in Paris. One critic wrote that the cultural megaplex, with almost 650,000 square feet of space, has bridged the gap between the imperial relics of the Habsburgs and the edgy art movements that have emerged in Vienna in recent decades.

More than 2.6 million people flock to the MQ every year, securing Vienna's reputation as one of the cultural crossroads in Europe. The complex's director, Wolfgang Waldner, calls it a prime example of a 'third place' -- a 21st century hybrid of hangout and multi-sensory cultural experience."

TAGS: museum

MAR

Atlanta Gets New Coke Museum

The New World of Coca-Cola Museum will break ground in April and will do so with help from city coffers. The museum is slated for a 2007 launch and is expected to pull in about 1.3 million visitors annually. This new museum will cost about 96 million and will be double the size of the current Coke museum.

Atlanta agrees to help pay for new Coke museum [USA Today]
Photo: [Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY]

TAGS: tourism museum