China to Construct Museum Highlighting History of Overseas Chinese

Construction of a planned museum that will highlight the history of overseas Chinese will kick off in downtown Beijing in September, according to the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese.

The building will be constructed near Dongzhimen in Dongcheng District with a projected cost of 220 million yuan (about 34.36 million U.S. dollars), which will be mainly-funded by the government, said Qiao Wei, vice chairman of the federation, at a press conference Friday.

Qiao said the news of the inception of the museum’s construction, for which the proposal was first raised by Chen Jiageng, a famous overseas Chinese leader, in 1960, has been met with active responses from overseas Chinese.

Nearly 5,000 people have volunteered to donate to the project so far, and among the donations are more than 10,000 antique items for the museum, Qiao said.

The museum will serve not only as a new base for patriotic education, but also a window for overseas Chinese to express their feelings and cultural identity towards the motherland, Qiao said.

Currently there are around 10 museums, exhibition halls and memorial halls on overseas Chinese across China.