Chinese Museums (Paperback)

Over the last 30 years, the Chinese system of art museums has enjoyed an unprecedented pace of development. Following a general and ongoing renovation of China’s entire system of national art institutions, there has been an impressive proliferation of meishuguan (art museums) all over in the country. Many different types of institutional statuses for art museums have recently been launched (notably small, private art museums) while others have developed rapidly (especially state-owned museums). This volume explores this range of different approaches to exhibiting and curating art, while also investigating the crucial question of the cultural sustainability of art museums in China. Through four case studies on museums and art collections in the cities of Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Shanghai, this volume provides an important contribution to the debate on the past, present and future of art museums in contemporary China.