The ecomuseum in theory and practice. The first Chinese ecomuseum established

Abstract

The first Chinese ecomuseum was opened on October 31st 1998. This was a result of four years of co-operation between Chinese and Norwegian museum professionals, state authorities on various levels and the people of a local ethnic minority in Guizhou province. At the signing of the official project agreement in 1997 the Chinese head of state Jiang Zemin and the Norwegian King Harald and Queen Sonja, were present. It is very rare for a museum project to attract such high level attention. It is quite a distance from the palaces of Beijing where this event took place to the Soga community and the Qing Miao minority group, with a population of 4,000 living under the poorest conditions in a high mountain area in Guizhou province.