Fujian Museum was the only state-owned museum shortlisted for the Chinese Museum Association’s Award for the most innovative museums in 2015. It is located in the scenic West Lake Park in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province, southeastern China.
As one of the national first class museums, it is part of the only six-in-one comprehensive museum complex in China, combined with the Natural Science Center, the Jicuiyuan Art Foundation, the Institute of Archaeology, the Cultural Relics Conservation Center, and the National Underwater Archeology Research Base.
Fujian Museum covers 60,000 square meters, and the exhibition area stretches over 15,000 square meters with a total of 15 exhibition halls, which include the seven permanent exhibitions- The Splendid Civilization of Ancient Fujian; The Splendor of Maritime Silk Road; The Splendor of Fujian Opera; Rare Crafts; Jcuiyuan Gallery; Natural World; and Dinosaurs. - These are based on the various unearthed relics and collections held in Fujian Museum, and they absorb the latest research achievements in the field of history, unearthed relics, archaeology and natural science. In the Museum there are are over 170,000 diverse objects and artifacts with highlights in pottery and ceramics, Chinese painting and calligraphy, lacquer wares, textile, folk artifacts, and natural specimens.
We are dedicated to forming a cohesive and creative system for exhibition design and implementation, service brand-building, academic research, and administrative management in the museum, alongside the relevant national and community developments which help the quality of public life. All of the resulting innovative promotions and highlights have obtained extensive reputations, and praise from the public as well as the professionals. In regard to innovation in exhibition design and implementation, we will highlight the exhibition Splendor of the Maritime Silk Road, which took three years of preparation, cooperation with 45 museums in seven provinces, exhibited 300 selected antiques, won the Top 10 Annual Excellent Exhibitions in China 2014 Award, organized touring exhibitions in eight cities, five countries, the UN Headquarters, and ten ASEAN countries. In 2003, General President XI Jinping announced a desire to build a China-ASEAN Maritime Silk Road oriented toward the twenty-first century, and emphasised that it is of strategic significance to deepen regional cooperation for common prosperity. Therefore, the Splendor of the Maritime Silk Road exhibition exactly conformed to the trend of the times.
In 2011, Fujian Museum launched three years of work and programming towards the develop of Splendor of the Maritime Silk Road. We brought together collections from 45 museums in seven coastal provinces including Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan, with Shanghai and Jiangxi as, respectively, the specially invited municipality and inland province in this exhibition.
Many related conferences and academic seminars were held in Fuzhou, Urumchi, Xiamen and Wuyishan. Thousands and thousands of miles we fellows walked, more than 50 museums we fellows visited, and over 300 the most important objects were chosen from hundreds of thousands of maritime Silk Road cultural relics, all of which could reflect profound cultural connotations of the Maritime Silk Road.
China has a long and glorious seafaring history. As early as the Qin Dynasty and Western Han Dynasty the maritime network was greatly expanded. After the development of the Jin, Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Maritime Silk Road entered into its heyday during Song and Yuan Dynasties, and from late Ming to early Qing Dynasties, a new pattern of the Maritime Silk Road started. On the strength of the cultural relics, with the background of the times, several thematic sections in Splendor of Maritime Silk Road were not only reflecting the great images of the splendid ancient Chinese long distance voyaging, but also representing the profound importance and tremendous impact in the fields of history, technology, religion and culture of a thousand years of maritime trade and commence.
The simple design of the exhibition, which conformed to standards of propriety, created the elegant atmosphere of the great ocean. Meanwhile, with its concise narration and rich connotations, this exhibition was adorned with heavyweight cultural relics in each section, which deserved visitors' extended attention. Constant temperature and humidity, an automatic induction light source system and other strict security measures were used to protect the precious collections. Besides, various display tools and assistant facilities were provided to create better circumstances for spiritual communication. During this exhibition, around 2000 visitors took part in more than 20 social education programs, with the themes of miniature boat making, seal engraving, embossed embroidery making and others. The aim was to offer visitors greater and deeper understanding of the Maritime Silk Road.As for the exhibition, more than 200 presentations from professional guides, and a 1000-hour museum volunteer guiding service were offered to the public. The academic seminars from top-level experts and scholars, and the photo-book with the titled of The Splendor of the Maritime Silk Road all garnered positive responses from visitors. In addition, many related research papers were published in academic journals, over 200 media reports appeared in newspapers, websites, Chinese microblogs, wechats, and other modern channels of spreading information.
By October 2013, with more than 4000 touching comments, a total of 357600 visitors from different sectors of society had visited this exhibition. As one of the top eight annual cultural events in the year of 2013 in Fujian Province, the Splendor of the Maritime Silk Road was chosen for display in the Capital Museum by the State Cultural Relic Bureau, the Beijing Municipal People's Government and the Fujian Provincial People's Government. Furthermore, this exhibition was selected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China to be displayed in UN Headquarters in 2014 as the national cultural brand.
From 2014, for five years, the Splendor of the Maritime Silk Road will be a touring exhibition to the ASEAN countries,.We attach importance to the museum service’s brand-building as well. With the signing of agreements with 100 schools and 100 communities, we provide more opportunities by holding lectures, donating books, presenting temporary exhibitions and organizing composition competitions, etc. During holidays and special occasions, we invite national intangible cultural heritage projects to perform, and these 400 fantastic performances vividly reproduce the beauty of the intangible cultural heritage. In addition, the projects of the Online Museum, Paper Museum and On-air Museum offer timely updates on the Museum.
In order to promote multi-level academic research, Fujian Museum has launched a Five Year Plan, a ten year subject, and million-dollar investment project. Therefore, many subjects are researched in depth, including the subject of the maritime Silk Road, the social changes in contemporary Fujian, the Prehistoric Cultures of Fujian and Taiwan, Fujian’s coastal islands from a marine culture perspective, and HaKKa Traditional Houses in Fujian Province, etc. We also emphasize the administrative management in the Museum. All of the innovative attempts towards developing a reward system, security mechanisms, and incorruptible style supervision systems encourage a better administrative ecology in the museum.