Priceless objects---Forbidden City treasures get free exhibition

Global Times, January 26, 2011

One of the few visitors I saw at the museum was the 75-year-old Shen Guiqing, who said he came with his wife as soon as he heard about the exhibition. "Although these are old, they are the result of the best creativity of Chinese people," he said. Shen said he has never been to the Forbidden City because the ticket price there is too high for him, so this free exhibition of imperial objects is understandably thrilling to him. Another visitor, the 50-year-old Fan Ruiqin, agreed with Shen on the importance of this first free exhibition of imperial cultural relics, but she was concerned by the lack of young people visiting.

"This is a good experience to get a closer look at these national treasures," she said. "But I have no idea why there are hardly any young visitors here." She was willing to take a guess, however, saying that more and more younger Chinese generations are spending their time on the Internet instead of on the culture that has been passed on for generations, which she thinks is disappointing indeed.

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