The 2.5 billion yuan (S$480 million) makeover for what will now be the world's biggest museum, at nearly 200,000 sq m, has added an 800-seat theatre, a conference hall, and multimedia displays.
But the makeover is also notable for what it took away.
Gone are references to the Cultural Revolution. The Tiananmen incident is also completely omitted.
In their place are exhibits celebrating the reform of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the achievements the country has made since it opened up in the late 1970s.
The changes follow a pattern set previously by the museum, which has constantly chopped and changed its exhibits to reflect new sensitivities.
During the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution, for example, it was renamed the 'China Revolutionary History Museum', with displays emphasising proletariat struggles and anti-imperialism battles.
At one point during the decade-long turbulence, the museum shut down, apparently because the shifting political winds changed so quickly that no one was certain which version of history to display.
Now, the disastrous Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward, which are believed to have killed some 40 million Chinese, are glossed over in the latest exhibits.
The omission of these disasters, which happened under Mao Zedong, could be a result of attempts by rising leaders like Vice-President Xi Jinping to revive Maoist values, said political analyst Willy Lam.
Historian Zhang Baijia noted that it is a challenge to write an objective account of China's recent history because of interference from those in power.
In a new exhibition titled The Road To Rejuvenation, top CCP leaders like President Hu Jintao are given extra prominence and, as befitting the current state emphasis on Confucianism, a newly erected statue of the ancient philosopher Confucius takes pride of place outside the building.
Politics has never been far from the museum, located across from Tiananmen Square at the political heart of the country.
It avoids any mention of the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests, despite boasting extensive historical photos dating from the late imperial period in the mid-1800s to today, and more than a million artefacts, including many from China's rich ancient past.
Ironically, the heart of the 1989 protests occurred at the doorstep of the museum. Bullets fired by Chinese soldiers during the crackdown reportedly cracked its windows.
But not all the building's changes are purely political. The museum has also finally managed to rectify an unfortunate aesthetic mistake.
Built in 1959 to mark the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, a design flaw in the white building with slender columns was spotted only upon completion: It was a notch shorter than its counterpart on the other side of Tiananmen Square, the Great Hall of the People, venue of the country's legislative meetings.
Then Premier Zhou Enlai wanted to correct this for symmetry's sake, but the fledgling nation could not spare the funds.
As part of the museum's recent renovations, Beijing has given the building a 20m boost. It is hoped that this will give it a more auspicious future: It aims to be as popular as the Forbidden City next door and draw as many as 10 million visitors a year.
'It will display both history and culture and truly be in tandem with the world,' said museum chief Lu Shenzhang.
However, Fudan University museum studies expert Lu Jiansong said: 'It is there in terms of scale, but it still lags behind museums like the Louvre in professionalism and management.'
By Ho Aili
From the Straits Times
hoaili@sph.com.sg
