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Rescuing Relics

Private collector Songtang Li opened a museum in Beijing in 2001 to display pieces from his lifelong collection of Chinese folk art and architectural decorations rescued from demolition sites. Li began collecting as a child in the 1970s when Beijing underwent widespread demolition and rebuilding, and he worked to save artifacts from old buildings being torn down. His museum now houses thousands of folk art pieces and relics over 1,000 years old that would otherwise have been lost, preserving important examples of Chinese cultural heritage.

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74 views1 page

Rescuing Relics

Private collector Songtang Li opened a museum in Beijing in 2001 to display pieces from his lifelong collection of Chinese folk art and architectural decorations rescued from demolition sites. Li began collecting as a child in the 1970s when Beijing underwent widespread demolition and rebuilding, and he worked to save artifacts from old buildings being torn down. His museum now houses thousands of folk art pieces and relics over 1,000 years old that would otherwise have been lost, preserving important examples of Chinese cultural heritage.

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shalopez166
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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RESCUING RELICS

ave youworks
get the ever wondered
and relics where museums
that they out on
display? If the museum is sponsored by
the government, then the relics were
probably collected under special laws
that protect historical treasures related to that
country. However, not all museums are sponsored by the
government. Sometimes a private collector decides to set up
a museum so that the public can view the works or relics in
his or her collection. Since the 1990s, more and more of
these private museums set uo by private collectors have
sprung up in China. Typically, these private museums are
small, but they give visitors the chance to see works and
relics not found anywhere else. bfgfhh
bfgfhh bfgfhhSongtang Li is one such
collector who has put part of his private collection on display
for the public. In 2001, Li opened his museum in an old 18th
century house in Beijing. The museum displays some of the
best examples of Chinese folk art he has collected over his
lifetime. Many of the pieces in the collection are
actually architectural decorations from old houses and
buildings around China’s capital. Whenever an old building
was being torn down, Li would visit the site to seeif there
was anything from the building worth rescuing. In this way,
Li managed to accumulate thousands of folk art pieces, some
of which are over 1,000 years old.
bfgfhhLi began collecting folk art sculptures when he was
young. The first pieces in his collection were two
gate piers that stood in front of his house. The stone piers
were carved with historical designs, and Li thought of them
as his two friends. During his childhood, he would
sometimes even sit beside them and tell them stories. When
Li was seven, the city told Li’s family to get rid of the piers
so that street could be rebuilt. Rather than throwing them
away, Li’s father allowed his son to keep them.
bfgfhhbfgfhhbfgfhh bfgfhhThus began Li’s
lifetime hobby of visiting demolition sites and collecting
pieces of sculpture or decorative architecture. Anything that
he was allowed to take away would end up in his collection
in his collection. In the late 1970s, China underwent
major economic reforms. At the time, Beijing started
widespread demolition and rebuilding across the city.
According to Li, more than ninety percent of the old houses
and temples in Beijing have since been torn down and
replaced with modern buildings.
bfgfhhbfgfhhbfgfhh bfgfhhLuckily, all of
old Beijing’s architectural folk art has not been lost. Visitors
to the Songtangzhai Folk Sculpture Museum can view some
of the best relics Li rescued over the years.

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