A Study On The Operational Models Of The Museum Groups

The main content of this study is about how the museum groups from seven cities in England, Macao and China work within their social contexts.These cities have different political,social and economical backgrounds and the museums are located mainly in and around the heritage centers of the cities.The author studies how these museums actually operate and the new development they are leading to, through the perspectives of preservation of cultural heritage, social and economic factors and city planning as well.By way of comparison and analysis, individual characteristics and points in common in relation to museum functions in these different cities are to be found and summed up, as a result to conclude some referential models for maximizing the efficiency of museum work.These museum groups are selected from seven cities, among them, three are from the English World Heritage Sites:the City of Bath, located in western England, an entirely preserved heritage city; the Ironbridge Gorge, located in central England, an industrial heritage city;and the Maritime Greenwich, a heritage district within the London city. One group of museums is from Macao, its historic city centre is a WHS.And the other three groups of museums are from the Chinese cities of Suzhou, its classical Chinese gardens being listed as WHS list; the city of Hangzhou, with its West Lake already on top of the candidature list for WHS in 2010;and the inner western city of Chongqing, a city with important revolutionary heritage in modern Chinese history.The scope of research covers the heritage preservation system and the museum management system of the two countries, the individual characteristics of these heritage cities, the types of museums, their quantities and formations, their excellence and insufficiency in terms of operating individually or in group, and furthermore, their working relationships with the local society. The research reveals that, in spite of having different cultural and social background, exist common functional practices and qualities for the museum groups of which they are closely related to their city's heritage preservation, city planning and cultural tourism development, contributing significantly to the city's economy.In light of heritage category, the research comes to conclude three types of museum groups that operate as ideal models for other heritage cities:the entirely preserved heritage city museum group, the industrial heritage site museum group and the historic city centre museum group.Furthermore, the author takes the Macao museum group as a case for remodeling practice, aiming at maximizing the efficiency of the functions of the museums so that the other museum groups from the historic cities can have a better model for reference.The referential value of these operational models of museum groups is, in fact, based on the universal museum functions and the respective aspects in common they relate to the city that have, by far, been analyzed.In another word, the applicability of the concluded models will be likely possible despite of different social and political systems. In the hope that the study result can, in some way, serve as a useful reference, with the adaptation of individuality of each place, for the other museum groups to improve their work, the author believes that, with better performance, museums can contribute more to the preservation of our precious heritage.