Silk Road museum alliance expands

A porcelain work from a Kazakhstan museum is among the 200 items on show at the first joint exhibition of the Silk Road International Museum Alliance, in Xi'an, Shaanxi province. [Photo by Xing Yi/China Daily]

The Silk Road International Museum Alliance welcomed five new members as it held its second annual conference to discuss future exchanges in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, on Friday.

The alliance's first joint exhibition of 200 items from 13 museums was staged alongside the conference in the Tang West Market Museum from Friday to Sunday.

"The alliance is an inclusive platform to promote cooperation," says the museum's director, Wang Bin, who was among the alliance's initiators.

"The joint exhibition is a good start."

The alliance has brought together 21 member museums in 15 foreign countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative and more than 40 Chinese museums since it was formed last September.

The National Museums Liverpool is a new member.

The museum's development director, Andrew Evans, says: "We hope there will be exchanges of people. And we are particularly interested in learning conservation techniques."

Evans says the institution will hold a Terracotta Warriors exhibition in Liverpool from February to August. He'll look into the possibility of holding a Silk Road exhibition in the coming years.

"It will be our next big China-themed exhibition," says Evans.

"That will fit Liverpool as a trade city and the partnerships with other museums in the alliance."

The National Museum of Tanzania's director general Audax Mabulla learned about the alliance at a Silk Road exhibition in his country last year.

"Tanzania is at the southern end of the ancient Maritime Silk Road," Mabulla says.

"There are more than 100 pieces of Chinese porcelain dating back to the 12th century in our museum."

Mabulla signed a memorandum of understanding with the alliance.

"We are planning for exchanges of staff, exhibits and seminars," he says.

The other new members are the Samarkand State United Historical-Architectural and Art Museum, the Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, and the Bukhara National Architectural Art Museum-Preserve.