File photo shows the Sam Nujoma Statue, honoring the founding president who led Namibians during the anti-colonialism struggle, in Windhoek, capital of Namibia, March 20, 2014. (Xinhua/Gao Lei)
Namibian museums are eager to work and collaborate with China on exhibitions and exchange programs, museum officials say.
WINDHOEK, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Namibian museums are eager to work and collaborate with curators from China on exhibitions and exchange programs, museum officials have said.
In an interview with Xinhua recently, director of Namibia Scientific Society Swakopmund Nadine Kohlstadt said it would be interesting to collaborate on exhibitions, share ideas and learn from expert curators from China.
"To have temporary exhibitions from China would be a wonderful idea, so that locals appreciate the long history of China and that they get an understanding of the Chinese culture and history," Kohlstadt said.
She said an interesting area that the two countries can collaborate and share knowledge is ancient medical practices.
"Chinese are known for their alternative medicine. We have a historic pharmacy, a historic dentist practice as well as some information on Namibian traditional medicine in the Swakopmund Museum. It would be interesting to add to this some information on Chinese traditional medicine," she said.
She suggested that the two countries collaborate on exchange training programs.
"Staff exchange, as well as the mentorship of curators, could be another area that the two countries can collaborate," she said.
Tourists visit the Palace Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 5, 2019. (Xinhua/Shen Bohan)
Director of Museums Association of Namibia (MAN) Jeremy Sylvester said China has such a rich culture and history which Namibians do not know about, thus having an educational exhibition in one of the Namibian museums would help.
"We would like to have a cultural exhibition coming from China to try and challenge people's perceptions of Chinese people," Silvester said.
He added that Namibia would like to collaborate with China in wildlife exhibitions to raise awareness on poaching and show a positive message about Namibian wildlife.
Namibia is currently working on establishing different thematic museums that will appeal to the young Namibian audience.
"We are working on a museum of music and Namibian fashion so we are looking for assistance as we develop these museums," he said.
Namibia had an exhibition at the Shanghai University in China this year in May, about apartheid in a small Namibian town. ■
