The Making of an Inclusive Museum: The Example of ‘General Branch Museum System’ of Datong Museum, China

A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. In order to effectively integrate public cultural resources, many museums at home and abroad have begun to explore general branch museum system. This mode develops rapidly in China and forms many models. However, the general branch museum system of each museum has its own characteristics. Based on this, this paper mainly introduced the example of “general branch museum system” of Datong Museum, China. For the time being, Datong Museum is implementing “general branch museum system”. Datong Museum is located in Shanxi Province, China. It is a comprehensive museum and now it is a national first-level museum. There are more than 170,000 cultural relics in Datong Museum. Besides the general one, the other nine branches have opened to the public. It is different from the National Museum Wales, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Cathedral Museum Complex in Toscana District. Led by theme of integration of the main, not only each of the nine branch museums bears its own specific theme and distinct characteristics, but they also link and complement each other. In future, we will further explore the exhibitions of other thematic displays to tell the complete history of Datong, and supplement the untold historical stories, as well as boost recognition of cultural identity and cultural confidence of the public.

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