They are relatively less well-known among CPPCC members. Within their own circles, however, they are highly regarded and extremely influential.

They are the country's museum directors - the people who help shape the cultural landscape and connect us with history.

Interviewed during a group discussion yesterday, three directors talk about the various initiatives their museums have taken in enhancing collections, improving services and bringing back lost treasures to the country:

Fan Di'an, director of the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC)

With a new building of the museum under construction, the most urgent task on the mind of this man seems to be how to fill that space. The answer, as the director who is also an internationally renowned curator with a large overseas network believes, lies partly in his proposal as a CPPCC member.

Fan suggests custom tax be exempt for all art works donated by either foreign or expatriate artists and art institutions to a Chinese museum. "The very name of NAMOC has dual meanings - art of China and art in China," the director said.

"The Ministry of Culture has set up a fund to encourage donations of works by contemporary Chinese artists. And our museum is the main beneficiary. As to the procurement of foreign art works, I think we should take that matter into our own hands."

Acknowledging the stiff competition the museum must face in winning the hearts of potential donors, the director believes that it is crucial to demonstrate the NAMOC is the place where art works can not only be kept safely, but are also actively researched into and regularly shown to an interested public.

Zheng Xinmiao, director of the Palace Museum

A staggering 9.3 million people visited the Palace Museum in Beijing last year, making it the single most visited museum in the world. That number is expected to increase with the Olympics just round the corner. As other museum directors are betting on a flood of visitors with museums nationwide required to provide free entry in the next few months, Zheng is grateful that the measure, designed to lure more people into exhibition halls, does not include museums-cum-historical sites.

This is because for this director, service is still key. "The potential growth in visitor numbers only raise the profile of this issue of service," he said. During the Olympic Games, voice guides will be provided to foreign visitors in thirty languages, he said.

As the guardian of China's largest palace museum, Zheng is a major proponent of the view that for research as well as purposes of preservation, antiques should be restored to their "original context" - returned to their place of origin. The director is also concerned about the retirement of the museum's senior researchers.

Lu Zhangshen, director of the National Museum of China

Expansion is also in the works for this museum. With an exhibition area exceeding 190,000 sq m, the museum is arguably the largest in the world.

As the country's ultimate showcase of its own culture and civilization, the museum also has a key role to play in bringing back the nation's most treasured antiques for temporary exhibition, if not permanently returned.

The director has engaged himself in a series of negotiations with prominent overseas museums holding collections of Chinese antiques.

Some museums, such as the British Museum, have certain reservations concerning this proposal, he said.

"They fear is that the antiques, once loaned out, might not be returned.

"There are a lot of historical issues behind these antiques," the director said.

"We have managed to track down a great many of them. The results will be published so that Chinese visiting foreign countries will know where to go to see them."

The museum is currently awaiting the return of a batch of antiques seized by customs from traffickers who had attempted to smuggle them out of the country, he said.

(China Daily March 5, 2008)