By staff reporter ZHANG XUEYING

Beijing is becoming ever more international, an image its national gallery must reflect by having a world-class art institution -- a Chinese Louvre or Metropolis. After a one-year closure for renovations, and on the 40th anniversary of its founding, the China National Museum of Fine Arts, is open and ready for business.

The Foundation of Art

The China National Museum of Fine Arts has always been at the center of Chinese modern and contemporary art. Its collection of 60,000 pieces includes masterpieces featuring important artists and the essence of folk art. As the biggest state-level art gallery, it houses important exhibitions and events. In 1988 it hosted the first nude exhibition in China, a scandalous event remembered by Liu Xilin, director of the art gallery's research office."[There were] waves upon waves of viewers. People waiting outside formed a long snaking line, forcing the gallery to stage an additional show." Other exhibitions, such as Henry Moore sculpture, Salvador Dali's paintings, a Chinese oil painting centennial and Rodin sculpture directed national attention to contemporary art. The museum was clearly on a winning streak.

Upstaged and Embittered

The museum has adopted exhibition planning by committee, and hires well-known Chinese art historians and critics to select works for display, including these original Picasso's.

After the 1990s, however, the museum developed very slowly. In the past five years few people, apart from professionals, have visited it to cultivate their artistic tastes. During this time, the Shanghai Art Museum and Guangdong Museum of Art emerged, and combined with other small galleries, the competition became fierce. Most of these newcomers follow a Western model of flexibility, individuality and architectural innovation.

"The biggest problem is the lack of funds," says Qian Linxiang, the museum's vice curator. The 8 million yuan of government-allocated funds received each year is far from enough. Before the major renovations that cost 160 million yuan, the total annual income of the gallery amounted to 10 million yuan. This barely covers its current maintenance costs. Lacking money to buy collections, the museum formerly relied heavily on private donations, and on entering past exhibits into its own collection. This was a convenient and cheap way of acquiring new artworks during the planned economy period, as the museum needed to pay just a few hundred yuan for the material costs of such exhibits. The market economy has, however, made this an obsolete practice.

In order to increase income, the museum leased its exhibition halls, but was rumored to have been lax in checking the contents of exhibitions, resulting in nominal presentations. "At that time, we also suffered heavy pressure," says Qian. "The museum was a public service. Tickets only cost 4 yuan, too little to generate a proper income." The lack of funds directly impacts on the quality of collections. An Yuanyuan from the art department of the Ministry of Culture says, "Finding the means to acquire expensive artwork has become an international problem."

Sui Jianguo is one of the many sculptors featured in the museum, along with Rodin and Henry Moore.

"When we criticize the gallery, we should also take into account other problems," continues An. "China's art market is not yet mature, and its people are unfamiliar with the art world. Today, our country has no regulations regarding donations of artwork, which are quite common in foreign countries. People who donate artwork pay less tax, which is of great help to galleries. China has yet to impose inheritance tax, but it is so high abroad as to make it a more feasible proposition for artists to donate artwork to galleries than leave them to offspring."

Competition in the field has made it clear that the old rules and regulations formed under the planned economy should be abolished, and advanced management methods adopted. Only then can galleries satisfy people's growing cultural demands.

A New Direction

The new museum has been expanded from 14 to 21 exhibition halls, and there is a new 240-square-meter academic discussion hall on the fourth floor. There are now open showcases, packing and storage workshops that connect to the main exhibition hall through underground passages. This improvement has solved safety and transportation problems of the exhibits. The museum has advanced automatic fire and burglar alarm systems, and special ramps, toilets and lifts for persons with disabilities.

The museum has also changed its traditional display of artworks. Instead of simply hanging them, it hires exhibition design experts from the Palace Museum and the China National Museum to design and make up each exhibit carefully. The museum also plans exhibitions by committee, and hires well-known Chinese art historians and critics to select works for display. Yang Lizhou, the curator of the museum, pointed out that the gallery has set its goal to become one of the most prominent museums of fine arts in the world. In recent years, the museum has collected more than 100 famous foreign artworks of various schools of art.

The Ministry of Finance is to allocate 50 million yuan annually for the next five years to the museum for collection purposes. The project will be launched next year, and the museum is preparing for a second wave of renovations that will increase the museum's size by 40,000 square meters by 2007. It seems to be going in the right direction. "As a museum with a history of 40 years, it is unrealistic to compare it to European museums that have been standing for several centuries," says An. "But it has already made great progress."