The city is full of spring and flowers are blooming. Luoyang, the ancient capital, ushers in the most beautiful moment of the year. Just in the past, during the Qingming Festival, Luoyang Museum ushered in a peak flow of tourists. From time to time, the volunteers who explain literature and history can be seen in the crowd. These volunteers have different identities, but they belong to the same group – Luoyang Museum Volunteer Service team. Since its establishment 7 years ago, the team’s volunteers have served nearly 100000 hours and more than 200000 tourists, making it an active landmark of ancient civilization.
These three “shots” are only the tip of the iceberg in the daily service of the volunteer service team of Luoyang Museum. The team, founded in 2012, now has more than 200 volunteers.
There are strict assessment standards for volunteer service here. After application and interview, volunteers need to receive training in Mandarin and language expression, Luoyang history, practical etiquette in explanation and other professional courses. After that, they must pass the three strict examinations of the exhibition hall leader, volunteer Professional Committee and the museum within three months. Only after all of them pass the examinations can they formally take up their posts. At the end of each year, according to the regulations, Luoyang Museum will “clean up” volunteers who have less than 100 hours of service in the whole year.
In September 2019, the volunteer service team of Luoyang Museum won the honorary title of “hand in hand history – top ten volunteer stars (teams) of the Eighth China Museum” awarded by the China Museum Association.
“Now, our team is getting bigger and bigger, and we are in the period of quality improvement so as to provide better explanation services for visitors.” As an “elder” of the team, pan Jingxiu, 70, has a voice. Since he became the first batch of volunteers in 2012, he has served countless tourists. Last year, he served 792 hours.
Every year, Luoyang Museum will organize a volunteer service team to go out for exchange and study, but the team members are not satisfied with this, and often spontaneously organize to visit sites and museums in other places. Guo Lihong, a volunteer, is one of the leaders of going out to study. Her group has recently visited museums or historical sites in Shangqiu, Kaifeng, Anyang, Zhengzhou, etc. and has basically reached the frequency of going out to study once a month.
“We can learn new knowledge every time, enrich it into the usual explanation, and make our explanation more vivid and full.” Guo Lihong said.
At the end of March, volunteers came to Tianxiang primary school and held a historical and cultural explanation activity for the teachers and students of the school, which made everyone have a preliminary impression on the historical background of Luoyang, the ancient capital. A few days later, the teachers and students of the school went to Luoyang Museum to experience the profound history and culture of Luoyang.
“The” go out, please come in “way we are exploring now, like the” Preview “and formal class in the classroom, is very suitable for primary and secondary school students. When they enter the museum from the classroom, they will have a sense of pleasure of treasure hunting and a high enthusiasm for learning.” Qi Hongyin said.
Now, this volunteer service team has organized and carried out many activities of “entering the community, campus and military camp” to let more people know about the museum and the fresh history behind the cultural relics. The volunteers also take patriotic education and caring for the vulnerable groups as the core value system, and provide interpretation services for the left behind children and students in poor mountainous areas.
The annual Peony Culture Festival is the busiest time of the year for the volunteer service team of Luoyang Museum to explain volunteers. They pay a lot, but they think they get more.