Palace Museum seeks non-governmental support

The Palace Museum has established a fund raised by entrepreneurs to explore new ways of management, the museum announced in a press conference Tuesday, making it China"s first state-level museum to have such a fund.

The non-public offering fund will be used to manage the collection of the museum, improve public service and enlarge the museum"s international influence. So far, it has raised 16 million yuan ($2.44 million) from the first batch of eight entrepreneurs with a microblog to open soon to encourage pulibc participation.

"A museum"s existence in modern times will need support from the government as well as from society," said Li Ji, deputy routine director of the museum and president of the fund. "To establish a fund is a very effective way."

Although the government supports the museum with 300-400 million yuan in subsidies each year, there are still programs the government cannot reach.

"The fund will complete what the government fund cannot cover," Li said. "For example, we can use the money from the government on repairing relics and then use the money from the fund to support academic research behind the repair."

For this year, the fund will help the museum open its first big-scale exhibition in the prestigious Louvre Museum in Paris, bring underprivileged children from the countryside to visit the Forbidden City and host a calligraphy contest to promote traditional culture.

"Behind every big museum in the world, there is a strong foundation," said Wang Shi, chairman of board of real estate developer Vanko and vice-president of the fund. "Protecting the country"s culture and relics is an entrepreneur"s responsibility."