The Hong Kong Palace Museum plans to recruit a new batch of about 200 volunteers in July to enable citizens with an interest in Chinese culture and museum work to assist with a wide range of duties including visitor services, educational activities and library management.

Rewarding experience

Office worker Celia Liu has always had a keen interest in museums. She signed up for the volunteer programme even before the Hong Kong Palace Museum had opened.

Ms Liu’s first duties as a museum volunteer involved designing activities giving the public a behind-the-scenes look at the conservation of Chinese paintings.

“When conserving an ancient painting, we remove the old backing from it first. It may look like an easy job until you try it yourself, but it is actually a challenging task.”

She spends one day a week at the museum helping to conserve cultural relics or hosting demonstrations for visitors on the tools, materials and methods used to conserve Chinese paintings. To make their museum tours more memorable, she also introduced some interactive activities in the demonstrations.

Ms Liu said volunteering at the museum is extremely rewarding as she gets to expand her knowledge as well as forget about her work stress for a while.

“The most important thing in conservation work is to take it slowly. Rushing leads to mistakes. So when I am involved in preserving historic artworks, it helps to calm my mind and reduce stress.”

Cultural family

The Hong Kong Palace Museum's volunteer programme has welcomed around 500 volunteers in the year since its opening, so as to engage community members in museum operations while celebrating their role as important stakeholders.

Retiree Patrick Chan spends one day a week at the museum helping with the registration for guided tours and carrying out visitor surveys.   

Like Ms Liu, Mr Chan’s experience as a volunteer has also been a positive one, as he is able to learn about many new subjects and different fields. But what has been really special is his interaction with the visitors.

“There was one man who told me that he was not interested in the exhibits and was just there to accompany his wife. I introduced him to a few exhibits in the hope of sparking his interest. After visiting the exhibition he came to thank me for my good recommendations, which gave me a great sense of satisfaction.”

Joining the volunteer programme has also helped Mr Chan to expand his social circle.

“I have met a group of volunteers from different backgrounds, including retired teachers and those involved in cultural arts. They share experiences of being a volunteer or knowledge of not only Chinese history but also relics. It is like joining a cultural family.”

The Hong Kong Palace Museum offers a variety of professional training opportunities for volunteers in areas including Chinese art and culture, Palace Museum culture, museum operations, and more. Volunteers will be arranged to work in different departments according to their interests or expertise.