Beijing has recently been experiencing its second surge in museum construction since the 1950s. A national museum, a state art gallery, museums of film and automobiles as well as a new municipal museum will be built in Beijing over the next several years. The Museum of Chinese Agriculture and the Chinese Geological Museum are also being extended and renovated.

The Beijing Museum Ordinance came into effect from January 1, 2001, as the first local statute on museum management in China. According to the ordinance, the city will encourage industry and citizens to fill the gaps in various museum categories and establish special museums that will reflect the diversity of regional culture and characteristics of industry. By the end of last September, Beijing had examined and approved seven museums, such as the Beijing Museum of Tap Water, Beijing Police Museum, Jintai Art Museum, Beijing Mumingtang Ancient Porcelain Museum, China Museum of Telecommunications and Beijing Songtangzhai Folk Carving Museum. Among these seven museums, four are the product of industry, two are privately owned and one belongs to a partnership.

An official from the Beijing Bureau of Cultural Relics introduced that Beijing has now 118 museums, many of which manage their collections by computer. At present, the Beijing Bureau of Cultural Relics has implemented a network and systems upgrade of software for cultural relics collection management. It has also developed software for the natural science collection management and completed computer training for staff using the systems. The Beijing Bureau of Cultural Relics standardized their design and printed accounting procedures for museum management in order to enhance museum collection management processes. As a result, the Beijing museum collection now has a uniform system of general and classified accounts.

(china.org.cn by Zhao Meng, Novemebr 6, 2002 )