Palace 'not club for billionaires'
By Wang Qingchu |
May 14, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
BEIJING'S Palace Museum yesterday denied accusations that it had turned its Jianfu Palace area into a private club with limited membership targeting billionaires worldwide.
The Jianfu Palace is mainly used to receive domestic and overseas distinguished guests and hold lectures, seminars and press conferences. It would be impossible to make it a private club, the Palace Museum said in a statement.
Its response came after Rui Chenggang, an anchor with China Central Television, wrote on his microblog that Jianfu Palace has become a club designed exclusively for billionaires. A total of 500 memberships are offered across the world, Rui tweeted on Wednesday.
A foreign tour guide said he had managed to arrange a luxury banquet in the palace for an American billionaire and his family, Rui said.
"If the museum needs money, there are various ways to raise funds. Chinese people and foreign friends who love Chinese culture will all support the fundraising. It shouldn't operate the palace this way," Rui said.
The tweets have been forwarded more than 15,000 times and sparked widespread public debate.
"The precious cultural heritage should be appreciated by the general public. But it has become the personal item of a privileged group. The museum should reflect on the influences it imposes on society," read an online post from "Yuhouyeyue."
"The museum is a public education facility, which should serve the public, rather than individuals. If the online accusation is true, the Palace Museum has gone against its code of ethics," Ma Zishu, secretary of China Culture Relics Protection Foundation, was quoted as saying in yesterday's Beijing Times.
Jianfu Palace, in the northwest corner of the Palace Museum, was destroyed in a fire in 1924. Rebuilding was completed in 2005. The area is not open to the public.
The palace was used as the venue to meet guests including former US President George H. W. Bush and his wife, curators of the Louvre Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum and other world renowned museums. The historic first meeting between the Palace Museums of Beijing and Taipei was also held there.
The Jianfu Palace is mainly used to receive domestic and overseas distinguished guests and hold lectures, seminars and press conferences. It would be impossible to make it a private club, the Palace Museum said in a statement.
Its response came after Rui Chenggang, an anchor with China Central Television, wrote on his microblog that Jianfu Palace has become a club designed exclusively for billionaires. A total of 500 memberships are offered across the world, Rui tweeted on Wednesday.
A foreign tour guide said he had managed to arrange a luxury banquet in the palace for an American billionaire and his family, Rui said.
"If the museum needs money, there are various ways to raise funds. Chinese people and foreign friends who love Chinese culture will all support the fundraising. It shouldn't operate the palace this way," Rui said.
The tweets have been forwarded more than 15,000 times and sparked widespread public debate.
"The precious cultural heritage should be appreciated by the general public. But it has become the personal item of a privileged group. The museum should reflect on the influences it imposes on society," read an online post from "Yuhouyeyue."
"The museum is a public education facility, which should serve the public, rather than individuals. If the online accusation is true, the Palace Museum has gone against its code of ethics," Ma Zishu, secretary of China Culture Relics Protection Foundation, was quoted as saying in yesterday's Beijing Times.
Jianfu Palace, in the northwest corner of the Palace Museum, was destroyed in a fire in 1924. Rebuilding was completed in 2005. The area is not open to the public.
The palace was used as the venue to meet guests including former US President George H. W. Bush and his wife, curators of the Louvre Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum and other world renowned museums. The historic first meeting between the Palace Museums of Beijing and Taipei was also held there.
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