Sun Yat-sen University Museum celebrated its first International Museum Day in May 18, with dynamic programs that bridged academic heritage and public engagement. Aligning with the global theme “The Future of Museums in Rapidly Changing Communities,” the newly inaugurated institution showcased its dual role as a guardian of history and a catalyst for innovation, attracting over 2,000 participants across campus and citywide events.
The museum launched Insider and Outsider: Modern China from a Western Family's Records, an exhibition featuring 150 artifacts donated by descendants of American medical missionaries who shaped Sino-Western exchanges over six decades. In the afternoon, an elegant concert transformed the atrium into a cultural laboratory where traditional Chinese instruments performed the Cantonese classic Spring Gallop alongside Brahms’s Hungarian Dance. Then, A night screening of the curatorial documentary Celestial Grotto Casting the Dragon — From Mountain Sacrifices to Daoist Paradises and a post-screening dialogue with director Lu Yi explored the preservation of China's spiritual heritage.
Collaborating with Guangzhou’s cultural authorities, SYSU Museum transformed its academic collections into public cultural experiences. At the city’s main venue, visitors practiced tile-rubbing techniques for Han Dynasty roof tiles using replica artifacts, touched ceramic specimens from the museum’s teaching collections, and crafted traditional moxibustion sticks under the guidance of pharmacy faculty and students—transforming historical objects into interactive learning tools. These initiatives exemplified the museum’s “living classroom” philosophy, merging scholarly rigor with community-driven storytelling.
Through transforming its atrium into a multidisciplinary arts hub and fostering strategic global collaborations, SYSU aims to pioneer a new paradigm for academic museums—redefining their societal role as dynamic catalysts for innovation in an era of rapid technological and cultural transformation.
