The museum frequently experiences chaotic explanations from non museum sources, and online museum guides have shared unofficial histories along the way

"I found a guide online for money, but it was very illogical and all the stories were unofficial." "In front of a group of elementary school students at the provincial museum, the guide teacher mistakenly introduced the excavation time of the cloud patterned copper ban, which was quite awkward." "I didn't explain it clearly, so I asked after it, but the guide asked me to search online on my own."

This summer, museums across the country are experiencing a peak of visitors, and some popular museums are even more crowded, with even fewer tickets available. In order to better visit the museum and understand the historical stories behind the cultural relics, many tourists choose to spend money to purchase interpretation services, among which, non museum explanations have attracted roast.

A recent investigation by a reporter from the Legal Daily found that there are many problems with museum interpretation services: the professional level of non museum interpretation personnel varies; The speaker's volume is disturbing and often occupies the best viewing position in front of the exhibits, affecting the order of viewing the exhibition; There are also some so-called "unofficial guides" who not only explain the content with loopholes, but also treat unofficial history as official history, mixed with success studies and vulgar jokes, to deceive and pollute the audience.

Industry insiders have introduced that museums generally provide official explanation services, which are usually more standardized and professional. However, some institutions or individuals, with the purpose of profit, carry out unofficial certified lectures or organize research and education activities within museums, and have shown a trend of large-scale development, which seriously affects the normal and orderly operation of museums. There is even a risk of spreading incorrect cultural knowledge and ideology, which urgently needs to be effectively curbed.

Limited resources for formal explanations

To non museum service providers

"I used to take my child to visit the museum and thought that booking a ticket was enough, but now I realize that I need to complete the explanation first."

Halfway through the summer, Mr. Chen, a Beijing resident, has taken his children to travel to multiple places. Every time he visits a place, the local museum is their primary tourist destination. Mr. Chen said, "Museums all over the country have well-known collections. Visiting with children not only broadens their horizons, but also instills in them a love for learning through cultural influence. However, my wife and I are not professionals after all. If we simply lead a tour, it will be a fleeting experience and it will be difficult to gain in-depth cultural knowledge. Therefore, we usually choose to purchase museum tour services."

During the tour, Mr. Chen found that most museums distribute exhibition guides or exhibits for free. If manual or voice guidance services are needed, they rely on "grabbing". It is already difficult to make an appointment for a summer museum, and I finally managed to make it. When I arrive at the venue, I often find that the official tour guide provided by the museum has already been arranged and the tour guide has been rented out.

"Sometimes there are people at the entrance of the museum who look like tour guides selling private tour services. We have also encountered those in the exhibition hall who appear to be private tour groups because we have seen tourists have had disputes with such tour guides, which I feel is not very reliable, so I did not try." Mr. Chen said.

The investigation by reporters found that most museums provide tour guide services for tourists, which are divided into two categories: public welfare and fee based. Taking the paid explanation items announced on the official website of the National Museum as an example, for a 2-hour basic exhibition of "Ancient China", the premium explanation group charges 100 yuan per person per hour, with a maximum of 15 visitors per group.

In addition to the official tour guide services provided by museums, in the past two years, a large number of folk cultural dissemination institutions have emerged that operate as museum tour guides. Various tour groups shuttle through major museums, and there have also been many individual tour guides who take orders as tour guides.

The reporter used "museum explanation services" as the keyword and found a large number of such products on a certain e-commerce platform, covering major museums across the country. Taking the Palace Museum as an example, for a 2-hour to 3-hour tour guide service, the fee range for each tourist is between 158 yuan and 500 yuan, with around 25 visitors per group. Taking the National Museum as an example, the fee for each tourist ranges from 188 yuan to 388 yuan, and the explanation time is 3 hours. Each group consists of approximately 5 to 7 children, while adults are required to "only follow from a distance and not 'stick too close'.".

In some provincial-level museums, the cost of tour tours for unofficial institutions ranges from 300 yuan to 900 yuan, with tour times ranging from 2 to 3 hours. The price is higher during holidays, and the tour tour cost is related to the number of people in the tour; Group buying costs 80 yuan per tourist, with each group consisting of 6 to 10 people. Most merchants indicate that if they need to visit provincial-level museums, they can provide ticket booking services.

In addition to shops on e-commerce platforms providing museum tour guide services, the reporter found that some individuals who do not affiliated with any institutions and are labeled as "tour guides" will also "hang up groups and accept orders" on social media platforms. The fee for individual guides ranges from 80 yuan to 130 yuan per person, and the usual explanation time is 2 to 3 hours. These individual guides have a "programmatic" process for accepting orders: private messaging on social media platforms, adding personal contact information, paying for registration, and providing on-site explanation services.

False advertising to attract tourists

Noise occupying space affects order

Wu Bing, who has been working as a tour guide in a national first-class museum for many years, told reporters that there are mainly three ways to book, promote, and pay for non museum tours: first, to directly attract visitors to the exhibition hall. Non museum interpreters directly inquire and solicit business in the exhibition hall, often attracting tourists through free trial lectures of 5 to 10 minutes, and charging fees through on-site transfers; Secondly, relying on the platform. Travel agencies and research institutions rely on Internet travel or service platforms to publish photos, videos and audience feedback of previous exhibition hall explanations to attract tourists, and collect fees through online service platforms; Third, establish a official account or chat group. By publishing research courses on its official account or chat group, research institutions attract parents by means of famous teachers' lecture groups, quality courses, etc., and collect money online in the form of groups.

Wu Bing introduced that in order to obtain business opportunities, some non museum explanations or research institutions also use false content to promote and mislead parents, students, and other visitors, such as using the official museum logo as promotional materials without authorization. "The specific approach may be to steal photos of museum guides or, without the permission of the museum, paste the museum's explanation logo in their explanations and introductions to mislead the audience. I have encountered several times when the audience went to the exhibition hall and told us that they had made an appointment for the museum's explanation, but it was actually a non museum explanation made from a third-party platform."

In addition, industry insiders interviewed believe that a large number of non-standard non museum explanations can disrupt the normal order of museum visits and affect the viewing experience of most visitors. Because non museum tour groups often bring their own speakers, often loudly explaining or guiding tourists, and may occupy important exhibition channels for a long time, which can easily lead to exhibition hall congestion.

Many tourists also have a deep understanding of this. "I wanted to see the cultural relics quietly, but the explanation in the museum never stopped, and the environment was too noisy." As a museum lover, Li Xia from Zhengzhou, Henan, complained that "the museum is becoming more and more noisy". "Some non museum guides shout at their voices throughout the entire process. Especially in large and high-quality exhibition halls, there are always people holding on to earphones and shouting at the crowd, squeezing through the crowd and occupying the best spot for visiting exhibits. Their expressions are exaggerated and they dance with their hands and feet. For important public education places like museums, these practices are undoubtedly very inappropriate."

"Some non museum guides collude with 'scalpers', causing some viewers to be unable to book museum tickets, resulting in a vicious cycle of bad business practices. Only by booking their guides can they quickly obtain the museum's originally free tickets." Wu Bing said.

Uneven quality of explanations

A large amount of mixed historical secrets

In Wu Bing's view, explanation is an important way to connect exhibits and the public. By providing captivating explanations to attract audiences to approach history and experience culture, museums fully demonstrate their important role as social, cultural and educational institutions in addition to their collection and display functions. "The knowledge behind each exhibition is very extensive, and the presenter extracts this content, transforms the exhibition words into colloquial language, and guides the audience to understand the exhibition and the content behind the exhibits."

So, can non museum explanations achieve this?

The investigation by reporters found that almost all non museum explanation service providers will repeatedly ensure service quality, even claiming to be "more detailed than the official" and "not listening to explanations is equivalent to coming in vain.". However, in fact, due to the current lack of admission standards in the industry, the quality of explanations is mixed, and the level of explanation is even more uneven.

"The content of non museum lectures is not standardized and carries ideological risks. In order to attract tourists, many non museum commentators often confuse archaeology with tomb raiding during their lectures, interspersed with unverified secrets, unofficial history, and other content, which brings negative guidance and social impact. Some research activities also have similar problems, such as pretending to understand students' questions and using prices to reflect the value of cultural relics." Wu Bing said.

Previously, there were media reports that there were many private guides in major museums who provided services for study groups and travel groups, but there were many loopholes in their explanations. A study group leader at the Capital Museum read "gold inlaid Persian Sauer Li furnace" as "separated furnace". Some live self media outlets in the Palace Museum deliberately tell jokes and gossip about secrets and unofficial stories in order to attract traffic.

Similar questions have been frequently observed by industry insiders working in national first-class museums who have been interviewed, stating that there are often external guides swapping the concepts of archaeology and tomb theft, and even stating that "archaeology and tomb theft are the same"; There is also a "treasure sharing style" explanation that emphasizes "how much does this cultural relic cost" and "how much did it sell at the same auction", labeling priceless historical relics with price tags, completely ignoring the triple value of historical, artistic, and cultural relics.

There are also some external commentators who live stream and record their lectures in the museum in real time, and upload them to their personal short video platform accounts. In the personal profile profiles of these anchors, they usually advertise themselves as "professional commentators.". Some bloggers, in order to attract traffic, talk extensively about secrets, legends, and unofficial stories in museum lectures, many of which have not been verified.

For example, a reporter saw on a certain short video platform that a blogger named "Love You XX" was live streaming at the Palace Museum, explaining the history of the Ming Dynasty and referring to Wan Zhen'er as "a generation of demon queens", spreading unfounded historical stories. When self media influencers talk about the bronze trees of Sanxingdui civilization, they use suspense music and connect cultural relics with mythological stories in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, as well as tomb raiding novels such as "Tomb Raider Notes," deliberately guiding the audience to combine Sanxingdui cultural relics with science fiction and supernatural stories.

"The location of the unearthed bronze square cauldron with beast faced milk nail patterns is incorrect." "The 'crown' on the crown decoration is not pronounced in four tones, but should be pronounced in the first tone as a verb." "Do you have any evidence that the inscription on the Marquis of Jin Su Zhong was made of iron? Just because iron is harder than bronze?"... Looking through the comment section of these short video accounts, netizens' "historical facts correction" can be seen everywhere. ".

Wu Bing said that the tour guides and volunteers in the museum need to undergo strict training and assessment for their on-the-job services. The presentation team first needs to write a presentation based on the outline proposed by the curator, and submit it for approval after being reviewed by professionals such as the curator. Afterwards, it is necessary to integrate multiple times and then have the guide make detailed modifications. Before conducting the presentation, the presenter also needs to undergo an assessment of the content of the presentation. Only after passing the assessment can the presenter be on duty. However, non museum interpretation agencies and individual interpreters do not have standards in terms of content and personnel quality, making it difficult to guarantee their service quality.

Improve official explanation services

Building a diverse professional team

On July 9th, the National Museum issued a notice on regulating the order of lectures in the museum. Starting from July 16th, no unit or individual is allowed to conduct lectures in the museum without the permission of the museum; Units that conduct lecture activities within the museum due to work needs must submit an application 5 days in advance, reporting materials such as lecture content, lecture personnel, activity process, safety responsibilities, etc.

Even before the National Museum, provincial-level museums in Henan, Liaoning, Guangdong, and other regions had clear management measures for tour guides and social education institutions to provide explanations, and in principle, social figures were not allowed to organize explanation activities in the exhibition halls of the museums.

The museum's ban on non museum lectures has made many tourists anxious. Recently, the reporter visited the National Museum and encountered many tourists who came specifically from other places to visit Beijing. In the interview, a large number of tourists expressed their great desire to hear the official explanation from the National Museum, but due to certain factors, they may miss the explanation time, so they chose non museum interpreters as a second choice. "We are not allowed to use non museum explanations now, and the official explanations cannot be scheduled. We can only take a quick look and the experience is not good."

To "delve into" a museum, an excellent guide has become the best "guide" in the hearts of many tourists.

"How museums can better meet everyone's exhibition needs is a topic worth pondering." Li Xia told reporters that although there are many problems with non museum explanations, there are also many skilled interpreters. Can they participate in the explanations in a standardized manner? After all, allowing museums and the public to travel in both directions is the only way to maximize the educational function of museums.

There have been some beneficial explorations in balancing the maintenance of museum visiting order and open lectures.

Last August, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage issued guidance on standardizing museum interpretation work, establishing rules for museum interpretation services. The opinion is clear that social organizations and individuals conducting explanatory services within the museum must undergo assessment and training. The museum will establish a "whitelist" and standardize the management of those who pass the assessment. In cases where the explanatory ability of our museum is insufficient, the museum may allow social organizations and individuals to provide explanatory services within the museum, formulate relevant management measures, conduct pre training, filing, and post supervision, review and control the interpreters and explanatory words, standardize the order of explanations, and ensure the dissemination of scientific, accurate, and correct content and values to the audience.

Intelligent means are also helping museums to better disseminate and promote their exhibition resources. Nowadays, the first digital presenter at the National Museum, Ai Wenwen, can recite millions of cultural relics and treasures without hesitation. According to the News and Communication Department of China International Expo, in the second half of this year, the phased achievements of the pilot project of the Chinese Civilization Cloud Exhibition will be presented to the audience in the cloud, and "Ai Wenwen" will guide the audience in the digital twin cloud exhibition space.

The reporter noticed that in response to the chaos of external social institutions using exhibition halls for private lectures and private research, as well as the ineffective management measures in the past, some museums have changed their thinking, selected and certified social institutions, and carried out attempts to adjust the supply side structure. By leveraging external forces to enhance lecture services and enrich the types of lectures, they have met the needs of audiences to listen to lectures.

On July 28, Liu Yang, Director of the Department of Museums and Social Cultural Relics of the National Cutural Heritage Administration, introduced at the press conference of "Strengthening the Protection of Cultural Relics and Inheriting Chinese Civilization" that in terms of improving the standardized management ability, many museums have introduced special management measures to regulate social interpretation, prohibit commercial photography and other activities in museums, and optimize the visit experience. Next, the National Cutural Heritage Administration will strengthen the qualification certification of social interpretation, maintain the order of the visit, and optimize the visit experience.

A lawyer interviewed suggested that museum owners should take the initiative to protect their legitimate rights and interests, report non museum interpretation services related to false advertising and other violations to relevant departments, and require third-party platforms to remove relevant interpretation service products or videos. If the platform ignores it, after collecting evidence, relevant departments should investigate and punish the platform's violations, playing a deterrent role against the violating travel agencies and research institutions.

As professional museum tour guides, Wu Bing and others also suggest expanding the team and building a diverse tour guide service team. Improving presentation services includes two aspects: quantity and quality. Quantity refers to the scientific and reasonable arrangement of presentation sessions by museums, especially during peak visiting periods; "Quality" refers to the strict training and assessment of personnel on duty who should be explained.

"To ensure the quantity and quality of services, it is recommended to further expand the volunteer team and strengthen training to alleviate the current situation of insufficient teaching resources. Through more, better, and more professional teaching services, we can achieve a thorough understanding." Wu Bing said that practitioners in museum teaching and education need to have relevant professional backgrounds and strict assessments, rather than just being able to work directly for those who have some knowledge. To cope with the chaos caused by non museum and research institution explanations, relevant departments should not only pay attention to it and introduce rectification measures, but also require the audience to have awareness and attention to it, in order to achieve two-way governance and jointly create a good environment for museum visits and learning.