CRI听力:Personal Collections Become Private Museums in Beijing

Kettles, teapots, and a pancake maker form part of the collection of Wang Jinming's private museum.

Wang is the co-founder of the Beijing Old Items Exhibition, a 40-square-metre room packed with hundreds of objects that people used at home or in the street from the 1900s to the 1970s.

Picking up a metal bell shaped like a donut, he explains that Beijing didn't used to have so many big hospitals, so doctors would walk the streets ringing the bell to signal that they were available.

"What is this? This is a handbell. It is also called "hucheng." This is very hard and very loud. What is this bell used for? Many years ago Beijing didn't have so many big hospitals. When someone is ill at home, but there's no hospital to go, what do you do? Wait for the bell."

He delights having visitors attempt to guess what the objects are as they hold them in their hands.

Needle holders, a pancake maker, a wooden tool street vendors used to attract attention - they all form part of the collection built up by Wang and two co-founders since the 1980s.

Wang adds that although the objects all look old and shabby, they record real history.

12 year old visitor Feng Shuo is impressed.

"I think these things are really interesting, I've never seen them before. In my grandma's home I've seen some quite old objects. Having seen these things I think the people in the past are really smart to create these things."

Some wealthy Chinese have invested in Chinese art and started private museums.

Some private museums have billionaires or banks behind them.

Others are run by people who had a hobby that developed into a calling.

Founder and curator Ma Weidu opened China's first private museum in 1996, the Guanfu Museum.

He started buying antiques for just a few yuan in the 1970s and 1980s which people were keen to sell to have money to buy fridges, TVs and washing machines.

Now the antiques are worth much more and his museum has extended into three branches across China with two more due to open later this year.

Ma's latest marketing initiative is to turn cats into his assistant curators.

"A lot of people who come to the museum, the whole family including the elderly and children, are interested in cats more than culture. But some may visit here because of the cats and in doing so learn something about antiques."

The cats, some of which were previously homeless, sit in their own "Cat Office" in a part of the museum building and pull in more visitors.

Museum visitor Ms. Ying says the cats create a homely feel to the museum.

"When I arrived just now all the cats were sleeping. I think in the daytime it's normal for nocturnal animals to sleep but I feel that it makes the environment warm and cosy."

Some experts say these museums are an important part of Beijing's developing cultural landscape as the capital has become an international cultural metropolis.