“This is a compass bowl of Yuan Dynasty unearthed in the Dalian city, showing the wonderful use of the floating compass…”, said Nian Zhoudan, a 54-year-old volunteer. Early in the morning, she welcomed visitors to the Lvshun Museum. Telling visitors about the history and culture of Lvshun has become a part of her life since she became a volunteer in 2018.

In more than 120 museums in Liaoning Province, volunteer commentators shuttle through the galleries every day with their enthusiasm, time and speciality. They not only tell history to help visitors understand the cultural relics in the exhibitions, but also assist museum workers with publicity, event planning and other related work. As bridges between visitors and exhibits, they add vivid colors to the civilized Liaoning.

In order to build bridges between visitors and museums, many cultural institutes and museums, such as the Liaoning Provincial Museum, Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum, Lvshun Museum and Shenyang Museum, have established a multi-channel recruitment mechanism. For many years, their assessment panels have conducted interviews to recruit best volunteers from the public.

For many of them, volunteering has become a part of life. Since August 2015, Zeng Xiaolin, a 31-year-old volunteer at the Liaoning Provincial Museum, has commentated for more than 600 times. “During the volunteering, I have experienced the joy of sharing,” Zeng said.

Major museums in Liaoning Province have designed a variety of activities to reward their unpaid service and dedicated work. In order to get more people involved in volunteering, some of the museums have also set the upper age limit at 70 years old and would award them with “Lifetime Volunteer” certificates.

With the continuous service philosophy innovation, volunteers not only provide service like commentary, reception and guiding, but also participate in a series of work behind the scenes. Through online and offline interaction, such as going into communities, campuses and villages, and offering study tours, they broaden the way of disseminating history and culture. Many museums in Liaoning Province also follow the steps of volunteers, and constantly make innovative initiatives.

Yang Dakai, one of the lecturers of the painting course at the Lvshun Museum Volunteer Cultural Station, participated in creating and filming the video “Online Classroom - Painting Crabs”, which was very popular among netizens. “As volunteers, what we pass on to the audience is not only knowledge, but also the integration of history with cultural relics and culture. I hope more and more people will get involved and join us in the future,” Yang said.