AFTER the news of the sex museum's move spread, many people worried Shanghai would miss its local treasure.
"What a pity that Shanghai didn't value this museum more. I think it is a private museum of the very highest value to the city," said Ye Juelin, a businessman who plans to publish a book about private museums. "It is a big loss."
During Liu Dalin's discussion with Tongli, an ancient water town in neighbouring Jiangsu Province, some officials from the cultural relics protection department also suggested Liu should not move out.
"One never treasures something when possessing it, but one always realizes its value upon losing it. But I think culture belongs to everyone, not only Shanghainese," Liu said. "Tongli has stretched out a helping hand, of course, I will go there."
The new location of the museum is ideal, according to Liu. When the highway linking Tongli and Shanghai is completed, it will take less than one hour to get there from Shanghai.
The new museum will cover over 7,000 square metres. It will be located in an ancient garden, is a cultural relic site of Jiangsu Province. The place used to be a girl's school named Lize, opened in 1906.
"The girl's school was a new arrival at that time, intended to encourage civilization and science. Now the aim in setting up a sex museum is the same," said Liu Xinzhong, head of Tongli Town.
In the large garden, in addition to planting trees and flowers, Professor Liu also plans to construct a park of stone sculptures. Of course, the theme will be about sex. Such a park will be the only one in the world, according to Liu.
Among the more than 3,700 articles collected by Liu, over 20 are from 5,000 to 6,000 years old. Tongli has invented a new slogan for the museum: "Build the best sex culture museum in the world".
"It is not boasting," Liu said. "I have visited many sex museums in the US and Germany. None of them have been set up by a sexologist. I think they lack cultural taste and their collections are also not as old as mine."
Liu will exhibit over 1,000 pieces of his collection in the museum, including all of his most treasured ones.
With Tongli's help, Liu said he had been relieved of his economic burden. His plan is to throw himself into collecting more relics and doing more research to develop this "almost abandoned science".
(Star News)
