Chinese museum seeks Confucian classics from around the world

A museum in China dedicated to Confucius is seeking to collect Confucian classics from around the world.

The Confucius Museum in Qufu, East China’s Shandong Province, wants to collect 100,000 international books on Confucianism. The museum, which took more than five years to build, will begin trial operation on November 26.

“A donation ceremony will be held for organizations or individuals that donate materials of significant artistic or research value,” said the museum’s deputy curator Yang Jinquan.

Yang said each of the donated books will have a barcode, which details the information of the donator and the displaying area of the books.

The museum covers an area of 55,000 square meters. It will employ sound, light and digital technology to strengthen interaction with the public.

The museum currently has a collection of more than 700,000 cultural relics, including more than 300,000 files about Confucius’ family, more than 40,000 classic books, in addition to more than 8,000 ancient costumes and a number of musical instruments used in ceremonies for paying tribute to Confucius.

Confucius, who lived between 551BC and 479BC, was an educator and philosopher.

The school of Confucianism that he founded deeply influenced China throughout its long history and continues to have an impact in today’s modern times.