LI Lan, Painting and Calligraphy Department, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai Supported by the Department for Culture Media & Sport (UK)

ITP REPORT LI Lan, Painting and Calligraphy Department, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai Supported by the Department for Culture Media & Sport (UK)

It is my honor to have participated in the 2015 ITP training program, which was organized by the British Museum. During the training period of six weeks, I gained much knowledge and experience, especially the cultural and operating differences between British Museums and Chinese Museums.

Education functions of the Museum: A number of educational activities are developed and education programs are enhanced in the British Museum and other museums. Different activities are prepared for people of different age stages. Some are for teenagers, some for young adults, some for retirees, and some even for infants and young children. For the different groups the education content is different. People in different age groups are attracted by these educational activities, stepping into museums and galleries and gradually falling in love with museums and galleries. One member of staff at the Manchester Art Gallery told me, “The museum or gallery is a school without teachers and desks”. The education function of Chinese Museums is not well developed, comparing with that of British Museums. The majority of educational activities in Chinese Museums are held mainly for primary school students. Potential for development is great.

Mothers and children at a local museum

Contributions from Volunteers: A large number of volunteers are engaged in British Museums. These volunteers work in various departments. They play a considerable role in the daily work of the museum and department works. Most of the volunteers are doctoral students and retirees. These volunteers undergo a rigorous review before they start their roles. Similar to the Chinese museums, doctoral students can enrich the experience in voluntary services. A major feature of British Museum is to absorb retirees as volunteers. Retirees have rich experience, and they hope to contribute to society so they genuinely love volunteer work. In China, volunteering is still in the initial stage but from my experience a volunteer system should be further developed and improved.

Volunteers at museum hands-on desks

Comprehensive files management system Great attention was paid to the files Management System in British Museums. Not only text files, but also physical files, are all well preserved. For example, the buildings of the British Museum cover several centuries. The original exhibition display has been kept for over a hundred years in the Pitt River museum. The museum itself is also a history. Chinese museums should also strengthen the Management System of files. Conservation of cultural heritage is the function of the Museum, but the construction of the Museum files is also an important job.

Horniman Museum and Gardens: The Horniman Museum and Gardens, a community museum, is built to serve the residents of the surrounding community, and enrich the life of the community residents. The collection of the museum is wide and various, including diverse art forms. For example, the collection contains samples of animals and plants, musical instruments, and even a small zoo and botanical garden. Community museums are important places for the leisure and recreation of local residents. The 2 museum launches a large number of activities for family and children, attracting many residents to participate. The Horniman Museum and Gardens plays an important role in enriching people's cultural life but in China, this kind of community museum is absent. It is a worthy reference for Chinese museums.

Special Exhibitions: The museum education offering should have breadth and depth. Collections in the British Museum present worldwide culture and art. Even without travelling around the world, the collections in the Museum can make the audience understand the culture of different countries. This is very helpful to expand the knowledge of the audience. In addition to the large number of permanent galleries, the special exhibitions are very useful for the understanding of a particular cultural phenomenon. For example, the British Museum's "Ming Culture Exhibition", gave the audience a good understanding of the Chinese culture in the Ming Dynasty. The exhibits include paintings, sculptures, vessels of gold, ceramics, clothing and etc. The exhibition reveals the history and culture of the Ming Dynasty through the aspects of imperial life, military art, religious belief and foreign exchanges. But in the Chinese Museums, the collections are all Chinese objects so the audience can only understand the history and culture of foreign countries in special foreign exhibition, introduced into Chinese Museums.

Therefore, communication with foreign museums is very important for Chinese Museums. Chinese Museums always hold special exhibitions of Chinese culture. Audiences in China go to the museum to learn more about Chinese culture and art. Nowadays, more and more Chinese people know about the world's civilization by traveling abroad. The Chinese museums should introduce more foreign exhibitions and then, the Chinese people can domestically gain from the cultures of the world.

With the Room 3 Exhibition Proposal

ITP program: The ITP program of the British Museum is a platform to strengthen the exchange of the International Museum world. The British Museum is important in this program. The Museum provides a detailed curriculum and training information for each student, which enables each student to adapt to the environment and to understand the contents of the courses. The training courses contain a wide range of forms, such as lectures, discussion, visits and practical. Trainees visited various departments of the British Museum, and communicated with department's professional staff. In the training courses, students learn about the operation of the British Museum as all the teachers are experts in the departments. They have a wealth of experience. Each member of staff is very professional and friendly. Compared with ITP, various training programs of the Chinese Museums should be improved in the training form, content and organization.

Colleagues in the new conservation studios

Interpretation： The wonderful explanation to tourists in the galleries, made by the experts from the British Museum, deeply impressed me. Every audience, equipped with a headset, can clearly hear and understand the explanation, without disturbing the other visitors. The audio guides not only have the different language channels but also were designed for people at different age stages. That is very thoughtful. I will give a lecture at the Shanghai Museum, and introduce ITP to my colleagues and tourists. That is a wealth of information for us.

Translation and revision of the Admonitions scroll: After the ITP I stayed on at the British Museum and worked at the Asia Department for four weeks. During this period, I edited and translated the description text of the admonitions scroll with Mary Ginsberg, the kindly and rigorous lady in the Asia Department. The admonitions scroll is very significant in Chinese art history. With increasing Chinese tourists, the accurate description text of the admonitions scroll in Chinese is getting more and more important. In the process of translation, I consulted the every word with Mary, trying our best to explain the precise theme ideas of the admonitions scroll in English and Chinese. We wish Chinese and foreign tourists could well understand the ancient Chinese culture and art. Besides the translation for the 4 admonitions scroll, I also helped the Asia Department to check and revise the database of information on the collections from China. One hundred and seventy terms about chronicles of Chinese artists have been done. In the British Museum, I have the honor to observe the rich collection of Chinese painting. Among them, the admonitions scroll and the Dunhuang paintings impressed me deeply.

Please send my sincere thanks to Department for Culture Media & Sport for supporting me in the Program at the British Museum. I would also like to extend my special regards to Jane, Jessica, Mary, Claire, Emma, and all the people who give their hospitality and kindness to me during the period.