INTERNATIONAL Museum Day, on May 18, has stimulated public enthusiasm for visiting historical sites in Shanghai.

In the two days of last weekend, the number of people visiting the 40 historical sites totalled more than 170,000 according to the local press.

From May 18 to May 25, Shanghai municipal government decided to open 40 historical sites to the public free of charge. Some local museums also announced that during the week they would waive admission charges.

Yet public interest in visiting such museums and historical sites is not always so keen. According to Wang Tingqia, curator of the Shanghai Normal University Museum and a professor majoring in history, very few visitors are ever seen there.

"After our museum was founded many college students and local residents visited, but not all teachers and students were even aware of its existence," Wang said. He admitted that sometimes when he mentions the museum to colleagues from other departments they are rather surprised to hear that such a museum exists in the university.

"It's normal that so many people would want to visit those historical sites and museums at the weekend, I think most were driven by their curiosity," Wang added. He also suggested that free entry was only one reason for the rush of visitors at the weekend. Possibly more important was the fact many people simply prefer doing the same thing others are doing.

Lack of interest or information?

Jin Xingbao, curator at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum (SSTM), has similar views about the public appetite for visiting museums and historical sites. "I wasn't surprised to hear that so many visitors had been to those places. I think for most visitors, the most attractive thing is not the exhibitions or buildings themselves, but curiosity," Jin said.

Jin also pointed out that public interest in museums was not as strong as it had been during the last International Museum Day. "I think there are two reasons for people's indifference to museums. The first is that they are not supplied with enough information about museums, such as when exhibitions begin, what is on display and where the museums are located. Some people may ascribe the indifference to museums' to the admission fee, but that is exaggerated,"Jin said.

The second reason for the indifference, Jin noted, was that the cultural environment failed to inform people that museums are among the most interesting places to learn.

Vivid lessons

In the view of many experts, museums share some functions with educational institutions. Shi Yin, the curator of the Oriental Musical Instruments Museum of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music is one such expert.

"First of all, our museum should be a base for academic research and teaching. Then a playground for pupils and high school students," Shi said.

Shi said the museum was always free for local school students from the Xuhui District. "When compared to learning in the classroom, the vivid visual and audio impressions they receive in the museum means they show much more interest and learn much faster," Shi said.

Jin agreed with Shi's ideas about the functions of museums. She said that the SSTM has engaged in academic collaboration with colleges and institutions from Taiwan in the past. In the coming June, some college students from Taiwan would be coming to the SSTM for research purposes.

Besides being academic institutions, Wang thought it would also be better if people considered museums as places to spend their spare time enjoyably. "In many foreign countries, museums are something like parks or gardens. Few people consider going to museums to be an arduous task. But in Shanghai, people are misled into believing that going to a museum is a hard work, requiring professional knowledge," Wang said.

Financial difficulties

Although experts have great hopes for museums, the recent display of public interest did not suffice to distract them from the real difficulties such institutions were confronting. The most obvious of these is financial stress. Both Wang and Shi confirmed that the majority of their funding came from universities, since entrance fees were unable to meet the demands.

Some wise moves have been taken by museums to deal with their financial problem. "We have introduced a project investment strategy into our museum, that is, we publicize a series of projects that have something to do with our collection, then invite people from all walks of life to invest in them. For example, Zhou Wenxuan, the chair of the Hong Kong Health Care Association has invested a total of 800,000 yuan (US$96,800) in helping us build up a multi-media centre in the museum," Shi said.

Wang argued that if people wanted to develop museums faster and better, they should abandon the idea that funding from governments or universities would suffice to solve all their financial difficulties. "One effective way to solve the problem might be to learn from a prevailing trend in other countries - attracting more non-governmental patrons to help us," he said.

But money is not the only problem that museums confront. A lack of professionals is also jeopardizing their development. "In our museum there are only two staff - a recently graduated student and myself. Few students want to work in museums. One of the most important reason for this is the contradiction between personal interests and the regulations of museums. If someone wants to work in a museum, he will have to redirect his personal interests into collecting things that have something to do with the theme of the museum," Wang said.

Short of talents

Jin agreed that the most difficult problem they were facing was a lack of qualified staff -although SSTM has a staff of more than 400. Shi also had similar concerns. "It's hard for us to select staff. First of all, they need an understanding of music, but also a detailed knowledge about musical instruments. Finally they are supposed to be able to play at least one kind of instrument, because sometimes visitors ask us to perform with some of the instruments," Shi said.

Public interest in museums persists, despite all the difficulties they are facing. Perhaps this, more than anything, inspires these institutions in their endeavours. "I still think we are developing our museum in the right way," Shi said.