China, Norway Jointly Build Eco-Museums in Guizhou Province

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 ◆ China, Norway Jointly Build Eco-Museums in Guizhou Province

China and Norway signed an agreement recently to launch the third-phase construction of an eco-museum project in southwest China's Guizhou Province.

The project is composed of two ecological museums representing respectively the cultures of the Han and Dong ethnic groups in Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911).

Initiated in 1997, the project is co-sponsored by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Guizhou provincial government. It is jointly developed by the Chinese Society of Museology and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.

The project involves the establishment of ecological information centers with records of the customs, life styles and cultural heritage of ancient Han people and people of Miao, Bouyei and Dong minority nationalities living in southeastern Guizhou, with the help of video and audio means.

In the earlier phases of the project, a museum featuring the Miao minority nationality was built in 1998, which was the first eco-museum in China and Asia as well. In 2001, another one featuring the Bouyei people was completed.

So far, the Norwegian side has offered 5.4 million yuan (650,000 U.S. dollars) in free aid for the project.