Museum shares family history with strangers

Curator founded showcase to keep memories alive through the generations

"My grandfather used to beg with this bowl in the 1940s during hard times, and this laptop was once used by my daughter," said Yuan Yuxiao, curator of a family museum he established, while describing each item in detail.

The Yuan Yuxiao Family Museum, situated on the south bank of the Yangtze River in Yichang, Hubei province, was the country's first family-themed museum, and began making preparations back in 2008. It was named after the founder, who has since invested 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) in it.

The museum, covering an area of 20,000 square meters, was opened to the public in 2011 and has welcomed more than 700,000 visitors so far.

The 30,000-plus items stored in the museum fall under 50 categories, and they range from an antique weaving loom to an iPhone along with fashionable dresses. But only 10,000 items are shown to the public at any one time.

"It takes a rather long time to sort out these items. I've spent years learning document-filing and item-arrangement techniques," the 56-year-old former real estate trader said. "It is not only a repository of items used by my family members, but it tells a story which delivers vivid tales featuring time-honored objects."

The habit of collecting used items started with his grandfather, who was laughed at by people for his illiteracy in the 1930s. The grandfather made up his mind that no matter what it took, he would have his children educated. And unused items should be kept to record the family's changes, while letting new generations remember the humiliation that the family has borne for years.

"These things were nothing more than rubbish in other people's eyes, but they are treasures to my family and show our mutual love over an elapsing period," Yuan said.

"I still remember neighbors calling my father a scavenger when I was young. I didn't understand him at the time and thought what he was doing was eccentric."

Yuan recalled that his grandfather and father often mentioned the phrase jiandao, which means "collect and store up" in the Yichang dialect. "They were considered odd because they treasured objects normally discarded by other people. Sometimes the 'gem' was nothing more than a shabby enameled basin."

Yuan said he once threw a comic strip away when he was in primary school, and he was forced to kneel down while holding a wooden bench over his head as punishment.

"My father told me that the stuff he held on to would be useful in the future," he said. "I understand them now. This so-called rubbish serves as a witness to ages passing by. The past shouldn't be forgotten, nor should objects from those eras."

His wife was once strongly against him hoarding all the items. "She would often toss collections into hallways in the 1990s, but I understood her. These mountains of objects did influence our lives as we had limited living space available."

To help create more elbow room, Yuan rented additional apartments in Yichang to store his growing collection of items. He still rents five rooms to house excess "treasures" as he calls them.

One of his favorite items is a stone tablet made in 1926 that is engraved with the history of his family.

Yuan said that it took over half a century for his family to track down the tablet. "I finally found it in the Shennongjia forest being used as material in the construction of a bridge," Yuan said.

"Our family are migrants from Queshan county, Henan province," he said. "The tablet lets my family members know where we are from. It's the soul of the museum."

He takes comfort in knowing that his daughter, Yuan Yixuan - currently a PhD student at Beijing's Tsinghua University - fully supports his work.

"I feel like I'm living in old times as what I see represents 40 or even 50 years of history," she said. "My family members and I helped him set up the museum 10 years ago, and this makes us proud."

The elder Yuan was granted an award from the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation in 2011 for his notable contribution to protecting cultural relics.

"The museum was founded by me, but I feel it belongs to all Chinese people. What I want is to help people preserve precious memories of ages past," he said.

The museum is open from 9 am to 5 pm every day except Chinese traditional holidays. Admission is free.