As of Sunday, 1.5 million people had flocked to a showing of French Impressionist masterpieces at the Chinese National Museum of Fine Arts. That's more than any other one-off exhibition at a Beijing gallery. Its popularity appears likely to stay strong in the twenty days before it finally closes. Let's take a look.
For just over US$2, you can enjoy a rich visual feast of 51 authentic impressionist masterpieces. According to staff at the National Museum of Fine Arts, the low admission rate is the major reason for the exhibition being able to maintain its strong popularity.
During the period of over a month since it opened, the daily number of visitors has averaged more than 5000. And on the busiest days, it has even doubled that figure.
A 50 meter long white board has been set up for visitors to make comments and suggestions. Due to the volume of contributions, its blank space has been filled and renewed four times.
(CCTV.com November 9, 2004)