By Ding Weicheng
In ancient times, the Silk Road is the longest, most lasting and most influential trade route in the world. Nowadays the Silk Road is not only a cultural relic, but also a new name card to present national image to other countries.
Chinese artist Xi Jianjun who was born in Nantong, is currently in British town Macclesfield, preparing to build a museum whose theme is the Silk Road. On 19 October, Silk Road museum English website was online.
Since he migrated to Britain in the 1980s, Xi Jianjun has been working on collecting Ming and Qing export porcelains, and invested a lot to collect and sort large amount of relevant documents and physical data.
A few years ago, in an occasional chance, Xi Jianjun returned to China and visited Nantong Museum. He noticed that Dasheng Cotton Mills founded by Zhang Jian introduced modern looms manufactured in Manchester in Britain in 1895, and the tag on the machine ‘Made in Manchester’ is in Nantong Museum. Coincidentally, Manchester is where Xi Jianjun goes often, which attracted him.
After ideal location was confirmed, Xi Jianjun and his partners selected carefully, bought an old library in Macclesfield, to convert it to the Silk Road Museum.
Xi Jianjun introduced that the total investment of the museum is 18 million Yuan, its floor area is 1500 square meters, now it is in interior renovation stage. It is expected to be open officially in Spring Festival next year.
Silk Road museum includes two major parts, which are ‘onshore Silk Road’ and‘offshore Silk Road’, and multiple exhibition halls. Xi Jianjun told the reporter that in the next stage he would visit and investigate in countries such as Italy, Holland, and Turkey, if conditions are suitable, there will be one museum about the Silk Road in these major towns on the Silk Road in history in the future.
‘I hope that I can introduce Nantong, tell the stories of Nantong well, and present the image of Nantong through a window like this.’ Xi Jianjun said.
Nantong Chinese in Britain Xi Jianjun preparing to build Silk Road theme museum in British town Macclesfield
