Paper short abstract:

Taking the Chinese National Museum of Ethnology as an example, this study attempts to explore the historical and political factors that lead to the dilemma of representation in ethnographic museums in China.

Paper long abstract:

The Chinese National museum of Ethnology faces lot of difficulties, how to exhibit a unified multi-ethnic country maybe the most challenging one. On the one hand, the birth of new nation-state was relatively late, and the ethnic identification was only carried out in the late 1950s, but the leading priority of the Chinese National Museum of Ethnology is to show the formation and development of the Chinese nation under the frame work of grand history, explain the unity between different ethnic groups, different regions and different nationalities since ancient times, and exhibit a society without "others". On the other hand, as contact zone of different nationalities, regions and cultures, the museum need to find a balance in its representation between its social responsibility, as well as the development of disciplines such as ethnology, history and anthropology.

This study attempts to explore the historical and political factors that lead to the dilemma of representation in all the ethnographic museums in China. I review the changing cultural and ethnic policies since the idea of establishing a national museum of ethnology was first launched. I point out that the primary reason leads to the above dilemma could be the separation between Museum of Ethnology and the discipline of Anthropology and Ethnology. Also, by examining the current practices of exhibition planning, I showed how the pursuit of "weness" have restricted the exhibition and prevented the construction project of a national level museum of ethnology.