A family's indissoluble bond with the palace

The family of Liang Jinsheng, retired head of the cultural relics administration department of the Palace Museum, has experienced the entire process of how the Forbidden City became the Palace Museum.

Liang's great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather and grandfather were all imperial painters during the Qing After the Palace Museum was established, Liang's grandfather remained in the museum to protect relics left in the palace.

As the Japanese invaded northern China in early the 1930s, the government of the ROC transferred the Palace Museum's antiques to the south to avoid having them damaged in the war, setting the Liang family on a migration with the relics.

Liang Jinsheng and his siblings were born during the long journey with the roving antiques. Their names reflect their migrations. The eldest boy was born in Emei, Sichuan Province, and was named Liang Esheng. Then a girl was born in Leshan, which was called Jiading in ancient times, hence the girl's name, Liang Jiasheng.

Liang Jinsheng got his name because he was born in Nanjing, which was called Jinling in ancient times.

"In the chaos of war, such a large number of antiques were well protected. It's because the government valued them very much, and the staff of the Palace Museum fulfilled their duties diligently. The safety of the antiques was always their priority, although their wages were often in arrears," Liang said.

When the ROC government was defeated in China's civil war in 1949, Liang's grandfather was ordered to escort nearly 3,000 trunks of the most precious antiques to Taiwan, while Liang's father was ordered to stay in Nanjing to protect the remaining antiques.

At that time, Liang Jinsheng was only one year old. He has no memories of his grandfather who, it would later turn out, would never be reunited with his family.

Liang's father returned to Beijing in 1954, in charge of transferring the remaining antiques back to their original home, the Palace Museum.

"When I was a kid, I often went into the palace with my father. I liked to search for crickets under the bricks. The palace looked old at that time," Liang recalled.

After years of war, the palace was desolate, strewn with garbage and weeds. In the early 1950s, more than 250,000 cubic meters of trash was cleared out of the palace. The State Council placed the Palace Museum under key protection in 1961. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

Liang Jinsheng followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and began working with relics in the Palace Museum in 1979. For the better part of the past three decades, Liang has been busy sorting, counting, and checking accounts and moving antiques.

In January 2011, the Palace Museum announced that the museum houses a total of 1,807,558 pieces of cultural relic. This was the first time in the museum's history that an accurate account of its collection was revealed.

It took more than seven years for the museum to thoroughly inspect and catalogue its vast collection-a process that left a deep impression on Liang. Although he hasn't seen all of the antiques housed in the museum, he said he has probably seen more than anyone else.

Among the 1.8 million antiques, about 10,000 can be shown in various domestic and overseas exhibitions very year.

"We've made efforts to display as many pieces as possible. But, because the ancient buildings of the palace are not suitable for exhibition, and many antiques are repetitious, most of them are preserved in storerooms," Liang said.

Opening more doors to Palace Museum

Although 2011 marks a century after the 1911 Xinhai Revolution overthrew China's feudal dynasties, it has been an unusual year for the Palace Museum for other reasons.

This year, a series of scandals have brought criticism to the palace: after items on exhibition were stolen, museum officials presented police with a banner displaying an incorrect character; a company affiliated with the museum planned to set up a private luxury club in the former palace; a precious porcelain relic was accidentally broken and the museum delayed reporting the accident to a higher authority.

The Chinese public wants to know what happens inside the high walls of the palace, and they are angry about the slow reactions and the arrogance of museum officials, as well as their attempts to cover up the accidents. In a civil society, the public has the right to be informed of issues related to public policies and public organizations.

Many experts say the Palace Museum needs to establish a complete, transparent and accountable supervision system in order to make the palace truly belong to the public.

"Apparently, there is still a long way to go to truly realizing the sharing of cultural heritage. People's criticisms about the private club in the palace show their deep worries about the future of cultural sharing," said Li Gongming.

Graduate student Zhou Chao recently visited the Palace Museum for the second time in his life - 20 years after he first visited as a four-year-old.

"I read the recent reports about the museum. I think those were things that should not have happened. I still feel many restrictions in the Palace Museum. I hope it can open more areas for visitors," Zhou said.

According to information provided by the museum, one-third of the palace's total area was open to the public before a massive restoration project began in 2002. After eight years of renovations, the open area increased to 45.79 percent. The museum plans to open more halls and gardens in the future.

Even without opening up more to the public, statistics show that more than 312 million people have visited the Palace Museum since 1949. The number of annual visitors jumped from 1 million in 1949 to 12.83 million in 2010, putting the Palace Museum among the world's most popular museums.

In an effort to shake off its decrepit image and open itself up further to both the public and modernity, the museum opened microblogs on China's most popular social networking services, Sina and QQ, to distribute information about its exhibitions. Its QQ account has attracted more than 3.23 million followers.

In October 2010, the museum set up a shop on Taobao, China's largest e-commerce site, to sell souvenirs, including dolls, T-shirts, decorations, books, stationery and key chains.

Qiu Fengqin, head of the Palace Museum's cultural service center which is responsible for the operation of the online shop, said the number of daily hits at the website can reach 8,000. The cartoon-style dolls modeled on Qing princes and princesses are the most popular items.

"We are making efforts to bring the ancient palace closer to ordinary citizens. We are developing products close to people's lives, and displaying the charms of traditional culture," Qiu said.

Throughout the recent scandals, the Palace Museum also tried to interact with the public through microblogs, but failed to improve public relations due to a lack of experience.

"We are working according to rules which have lasted for many years. The working style cannot meet public demand. It's time to change," said Xu Kai, an employee with the cultural relics administration department.

"I really feel happy to help researchers both at home and abroad study the pieces of heritage in our museum. We also hold many exhibitions in other cities and in foreign countries to give more people a chance to enjoy the palace's antiques without going to Beijing," Xu said.

"Our goal is to let everybody share the cultural resources of the Palace Museum," Xu added.