IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i24p13860-d703312.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Booming Number of Museums and Their Inequality Changes in China

Author

Listed:
  • Xianyuan Chang

    (College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

  • Zhaoping Wu

    (College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

  • Yi Chen

    (College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

  • Yuanyuan Du

    (College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

  • Longfei Shang

    (College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

  • Ying Ge

    (College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

  • Jie Chang

    (College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

  • Guofu Yang

    (College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
    Artistic Design & Creation School, Zhejiang University City College, Hangzhou 310015, China)

Abstract

As the spaces for dialogue between the past and the future, museums are essential to human well-being and social sustainability. Here, we collected data from 328 cities in 31 provinces of mainland China from 1980 to 2019 to investigate the changes in number and spatial inequalities of museums. The results showed that: (1) in mainland China, there were only 137 museums in 1980, and while this increased to 5626 in 2019, China still possessed only four museums per million people; (2) the increasing number of museums lagged behind the growth rate of both the population and economy at both the province and city level; (3) the Gini coefficient of museums per million people was only 0.27 in 2019, indicating relative equality of visiting opportunities among the provinces of China; (4) the Gini coefficients of per capita museums in some provinces were higher than that of the whole nation, with the highest ~0.6 in 2010 and 0.4 in 2017; (5) the economic competitiveness and human well-being of a city were promoted by an increased number of museums. We suggest that the central government of China should increase the number of museums in all provinces, while some provinces should pay more attention to the inequality in the distribution of cultural facilities among cities.

Suggested Citation

  • Xianyuan Chang & Zhaoping Wu & Yi Chen & Yuanyuan Du & Longfei Shang & Ying Ge & Jie Chang & Guofu Yang, 2021. "The Booming Number of Museums and Their Inequality Changes in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-19, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:24:p:13860-:d:703312
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/24/13860/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/24/13860/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Qian, Jiang-Hai & Yang, Cheng-Hao & Han, Ding-Ding & Ma, Yu-Gang, 2012. "Multi-scaling mix and non-universality between population and facility density," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(21), pages 5146-5152.
    2. Joao Meirelles & Camilo Rodrigues Neto & Fernando Fagundes Ferreira & Fabiano Lemes Ribeiro & Claudia Rebeca Binder, 2018. "Evolution of urban scaling: Evidence from Brazil," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(10), pages 1-15, October.
    3. Shimei Wu & Xinye Zheng & Chu Wei, 2017. "Measurement of inequality using household energy consumption data in rural China," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 2(10), pages 795-803, October.
    4. Tammy Drezner & Zvi Drezner & Dawit Zerom, 2020. "Facility Dependent Distance Decay in Competitive Location," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 915-934, December.
    5. Laura Di Pietro & Roberta Guglielmetti Mugion & Maria Francesca Renzi & Martina Toni, 2014. "An Audience-Centric Approach for Museums Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(9), pages 1-18, August.
    6. Benjamin Moll & Robert M. Townsend & Victor Zhorin, 2013. "Economic Development, Flow of Funds and the Equilibrium Interaction of Financial Frictions," NBER Working Papers 19618, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Ayeon Choi & Graham Berridge & Chulwon Kim, 2020. "The Urban Museum as a Creative Tourism Attraction: London Museum Lates Visitor Motivation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-18, November.
    8. Haibo Zhang & Zhigang Tao, 2018. "Evaluating China’s Paired-Assistance Policy (PAP) in Response to the Wenchuan Earthquake: A Sustainability Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-16, October.
    9. Tim Althoff & Rok Sosič & Jennifer L. Hicks & Abby C. King & Scott L. Delp & Jure Leskovec, 2017. "Large-scale physical activity data reveal worldwide activity inequality," Nature, Nature, vol. 547(7663), pages 336-339, July.
    10. Renjie Zhao & Shihu Zhong & Aiping He, 2018. "Disaster Impact, National Aid, and Economic Growth: Evidence from the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-22, November.
    11. Izabela Luiza Pop & Anca Borza, 2016. "Factors Influencing Museum Sustainability and Indicators for Museum Sustainability Measurement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-22, January.
    12. Denise Pumain & Céline Rozenblat, 2019. "Two metropolisation gradients in the European system of cities revealed by scaling laws," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 46(9), pages 1645-1662, November.
    13. Kühnert, Christian & Helbing, Dirk & West, Geoffrey B., 2006. "Scaling laws in urban supply networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 363(1), pages 96-103.
    14. Luciana Lazzeretti & Francesco Capone, 2015. "Museums as Societal Engines for Urban Renewal. The Event Strategy of the Museum of Natural History in Florence," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(8), pages 1548-1567, August.
    15. Claudio-Pachecano, L. & Larralde, H., 2020. "Agglomeration or separation: Store patterns through an optimal location model," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 542(C).
    16. David Lusseau & Francesca Mancini, 2019. "Income-based variation in Sustainable Development Goal interaction networks," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(3), pages 242-247, March.
    17. José Monteagudo-Fernández & Cosme J. Gómez-Carrasco & Álvaro Chaparro-Sainz, 2021. "Heritage Education and Research in Museums. Conceptual, Intellectual and Social Structure within a Knowledge Domain (2000–2019)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-21, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jan Jekl & Jiří Jánský, 2022. "Security Challenges and Economic-Geographical Metrics for Analyzing Safety to Achieve Sustainable Protection," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-19, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xu, Gang & Xu, Zhibang & Gu, Yanyan & Lei, Weiqian & Pan, Yupiao & Liu, Jie & Jiao, Limin, 2020. "Scaling laws in intra-urban systems and over time at the district level in Shanghai, China," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 560(C).
    2. Fabiano L Ribeiro & Joao Meirelles & Vinicius M Netto & Camilo Rodrigues Neto & Andrea Baronchelli, 2020. "On the relation between transversal and longitudinal scaling in cities," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-20, May.
    3. Che-Chuan Hsu & Rua-Huan Tsaih & David C. Yen, 2018. "The Evolving Role of IT Departments in Digital Transformation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-18, October.
    4. Alicia Orea-Giner & Jorge Calero-Sanz & Carmen De-Pablos-Heredero & Trinidad Vacas-Guerrero, 2021. "An Exploratory Analysis of Museum Attributes from the Perspective of Tourists and Residents: The Case of Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, Madrid, Spain," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-19, June.
    5. Pedro Luengo, 2020. "Sustainable Illumination for Baroque Paintings with Historical Context Considerations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-11, October.
    6. Joao Meirelles & Fabiano L. Ribeiro & Gabriel Cury & Claudia R. Binder & Vinicius M. Netto, 2021. "More from Less? Environmental Rebound Effects of City Size," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-20, April.
    7. Luisa Errichiello & Roberto Micera, 2018. "Leveraging Smart Open Innovation for Achieving Cultural Sustainability: Learning from a New City Museum Project," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-23, June.
    8. Elliott, Robert J.R. & Sun, Puyang & Xu, Qiqin, 2015. "Energy distribution and economic growth: An empirical test for China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 24-31.
    9. Teng, Meixuan & Burke, Paul J. & Liao, Hua, 2019. "The demand for coal among China's rural households: Estimates of price and income elasticities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 928-936.
    10. Chen, Yanguang, 2014. "An allometric scaling relation based on logistic growth of cities," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 65-77.
    11. Jeong-Hui Park & Eunhye Yoo & Youngdeok Kim & Jung-Min Lee, 2021. "What Happened Pre- and during COVID-19 in South Korea? Comparing Physical Activity, Sleep Time, and Body Weight Status," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-13, May.
    12. Lena I. Fuldauer & Scott Thacker & Robyn A. Haggis & Francesco Fuso-Nerini & Robert J. Nicholls & Jim W. Hall, 2022. "Targeting climate adaptation to safeguard and advance the Sustainable Development Goals," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    13. Lee, Ji-Hye & Jo, Junghyo & Kim, Jong Won & Lee, Keumsook & Choi, M.Y., 2022. "Spatial distributions of restaurants emerging from pedestrian behavior and online information sharing," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 597(C).
    14. Lei, Mingyu & Cai, Wenjia & Liu, Wenling & Wang, Can, 2022. "The heterogeneity in energy consumption patterns and home appliance purchasing preferences across urban households in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    15. Denise PUMAIN, 2012. "Une Théorie Géographique Pour La Loi De Zipf," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 36, pages 31-54.
    16. Piotr Raźniak & György Csomós & Sławomir Dorocki & Anna Winiarczyk-Raźniak, 2021. "Exploring the Shifting Geographical Pattern of the Global Command-and-Control Function of Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-15, November.
    17. Joao Meirelles & Camilo Rodrigues Neto & Fernando Fagundes Ferreira & Fabiano Lemes Ribeiro & Claudia Rebeca Binder, 2018. "Evolution of urban scaling: Evidence from Brazil," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(10), pages 1-15, October.
    18. Li, Meng & Jin, Tianyu & Liu, Shenglong & Zhou, Shaojie, 2021. "The cost of clean energy transition in rural China: Evidence based on marginal treatment effects," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    19. David Tremblay & François Fortier & Jean‐François Boucher & Olivier Riffon & Claude Villeneuve, 2020. "Sustainable development goal interactions: An analysis based on the five pillars of the 2030 agenda," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 1584-1596, November.
    20. Jeremy Greenwood & Juan M. Sanchez & Cheng Wang, 2010. "Financing Development: The Role of Information Costs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(4), pages 1875-1891, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:24:p:13860-:d:703312. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.