By Tang Shunjia
This year marks the start to fully implement the spirit of 20th National Congress of the CPC. Yangpu's major projects are sprinting for a perfect start. The construction of China Modern Press and Publication Museum is a part of it. Up to date, exterior wall of the museum has basically completed, and interior decoration is still underway.
On the construction site, the reporter saw several workers hectic around. "Overall component engineering has completed, public area decoration has almost come to the end, and exhibition hall framework is basically erected. Next, we'll enter the move-in phase." Curator Zhao Shulei told reporter, "we pool efforts to set the exhibited art scenes in place according to exhibition planning on one hand, and lay out cultural relics in place according to display requirements on the other hand."
As the first modern press and publication museum in China, this six-floor museum is situated at the junction of Zhoujiazui Road and Shaling Road, covering a total area of about 10,000 square meters. The museum falls into one theme hall and five branch halls, spanning across publishing agency, children's books, audio and video, art design, printing technology and more. The museum exhibits by diverse approaches, not only leveraging 3D printing technology to simulate spectacular scene of Qiuci Grottoes, but also designing numerous interactive devices, and allowing audiences to have an "immersive" dialogue with books.
Additionally, old library of Zhonghua Book Company is innovatively restored and displayed in the museum. "Publishers of the last century cherished an unswerving belief of saving the nation by education." Zhao Shulei said, "In 1924, the Commercial Press opened Oriental Library, known as the first library in Asia, but it was bombed out shamefully in the 'January 28th' Incident. Fortunately, Zhonghua Book Company Library has survived, passed down entirely until now. Therefore, our museum intends to restore and display part of Zhonghua Book Company Library on the first floor, enabling citizens to see that education philosophy of brilliant Chinese publishers a century ago has come true today."
As planned, this book display area will present original books of the last century and bookshelf classification method, attempting to recreate the scenario of Zhonghua Book Company Library. Meanwhile, the scenarios of staff checking and sorting out books in the library meet the eyes of visitors in the manner of glass library.
Shanghai is the birthplace and hub of Chinese press and publication industry; however, the museum is forged, so that hopefully general public will see historical vicissitudes of Shanghai through volumes of books and newspapers. In Zhao Shulei's mind, press and publication is more than an industry, but also a collective cultural memory. "Over the century of press and publication, it has witnessed the century-old city, ideology and culture of Shanghai".
It is reported that China Modern Press and Publication Museum is scheduled to open in the first half of 2023, alongside several stress tests during the period, inviting citizens to visit the museum.