1167 | 155 | Museums’ International Collaboration with Case studies of Cross-border Exhibitions in China and Japan in the 21st-century

This thesis aims to analyse the processes of museums’ international collaboration through cross-border exhibitions displayed in China and Japan, to understand the mechanisms of collaboration between museums, cultural diplomacy, and their functionality. After theoretically analysing the phenomenon of international exhibitions and the characteristics of the museum systems in China and Japan, four case studies of exhibitions opened to the public from 2015 to 2021 have been examined. These chosen case studies mainly focus on the 21st century, when vast museums and exhibitions become essential to their national cultural policies. In the past decades, cross-border exhibitions have attracted millions of visitors’ attention in these societies and provided valuable opportunities for museums to reach wider audiences through exhibitions and improve their global reputation. _x000D_
Fieldwork in these four museums in China and Japan was conducted as an essential part of the methodology of this thesis, which combined face-to-face interviews with curators and official email answers to the researcher’s questionnaire from the public relations sector of museums. The museum library in Japan kept the catalogue book published after the exhibition finished, which allowed the analysis of the touring exhibition in the past. By combining the details of the process and results of these four cross-border exhibitions, this thesis wants to contribute to the understanding of museums’ international cooperation. In addition, exploring more possibilities of global heritage management by creating new narratives for more comprehensive visitors.

Jinghao Tong
University of Barcelona
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