Museums
In the past twenty to thirty years, due to China's opening and reform policy as well as to the development of a market economy, travel, tourism, and cultural exchange have greatly increased. China's socialist museums have developed along with these changes: they have been rebuilding and expanding old museums, adding new buildings, increasing collections, modernizing exhibition facilities and strengthening archaeological research. There are now some 2,000 museums in China of all varieties. Visitors from both China and abroad have increased, with very positive results in the realm of education as well as in simple enjoyment. Museums are a sort of three-dimensional encyclopedia. In China, museums originated in the collections of the ancient imperial families. They too were of a comprehensive nature and the cultural guide to the East was termed a `bo-wu' gentleman or a man in command of broad or extensive matters. The term `museum' in China, `bo-wu-guan,' means a place devoted to broadly-conceived matters.