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Earlier this month the Empress Dowager Xiao Canal Museum of Culture 萧太后河文化馆 opened to the public in Tongzhou District of Beijing, with over 1,000 exhibits relating mostly to Khitan history and culture acquired from private individuals (民间收藏品) http://beijing.qianlong.com/2020/0803/4517321.shtml
Mostly fake I hasten to add! Pictures from https://3g.163.com/dy/article/FK354VIK0528O6FD.html
Here's a video introducing some of the highly dubious items that have been miraculously preserved in 'folk collections' for a 1,000 years, including drawers of movable type and printing plates in exotic languages which are staple fare on internet auctions. http://www.dayuntongzhou.com/web/ct22887
I can say without a shadow of doubt that all these items shown in the video are fakes. It is sad that a museum full of fakes can open in Beijing without anyone speaking up to denounce the fraud.
I apologise if the first tweet of this thread misled anyone into believing that this is an important new museum, but "acquired from private individuals (民间收藏品)" was intended to be a warning that all is not as it seems ...
As I've said before, there isn't a huge reserve of pristine historical artefacts in ordinary private ownership just waiting to be bought up by the dozens of new private museums that have opened in China over the last 20 years, ...
... so of necessity any new private museum has to supplement the meagre source of legitimate genuine historical artefacts with fakes, reproductions, and maybe some illicit tomb-robbed items. "民间收藏" is just a flimsy cover story.
