Money is not a problem
"National-level palaces belong to the public cultural resources which should be non-profitable," said Zhu Dake, professor at Tongji University. "Companies using these places to make a profit are a typical case of harming the public resources."
For places like the Great Hall of the People and the Imperial Palace, money is not a problem. They do not need to worry about the income issue, for they have been included into the financial protection mechanism of the country, according to Lu.
Since the year 2008, national financial subsidies for these places have increased each year. "The annual subsidy for the Shanghai Museum is about 140 million (US$21.9 million) and for the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, the amount is 120 million (US$18.8 million)," said Lu.
National palaces do not have the right to really be involved in business activities. But since there is no fixed regulation concerning this issue, some officials at these places—in spite of knowing the responsibility of these places to provide public services—easily bend to business profits, according to Lu.
"The image of a country cannot be valued by money, and if these officials only cast their eyes on financial interests, the results will be serious," said Lu.
Call for a threshold
According to the survey, 62.8% of respondents think that these national-level palaces should hold serious activities which can help people gain cultural, political, or social knowledge about the country and its people. About 45.9% of people think that in order to guarantee that these places are pursuing the right track, a threshold should be established for the activities.
Only those activities that can meet the standard of teaching meaningful knowledge to ordinary people should be able to enter these palaces. Besides, the media and related regulation-making department should also keep an eye on these places.
Within the places themselves, there should be a complete regulation system to make sure that they are providing public services.
