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China National Museum Collects 32,000 Family Letters

The National Museum of China collected 32,000 family letters over an eight-month period ending in January from domestic and overseas Chinese in a campaign to save written documents reflecting historical folk customs.

The family letters serve as a guide to family life during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties with contents covering parenthood, filial piety, brotherhood, love, army service and overseas life.

Lu Neng from Southwest China's Sichuan Province donated the only family letter left over by his uncle Lu Gengfu, who died at the age of 26 for the revolutionary cause as one of the leaders of the Communist Party of China in its early years. The letter offers an important historical reference to the Northern Expedition, a civil war action that took place in 1926-27.

The museum will continue to solicit family letters from domestic and overseas Chinese and will hold its first forum on Chinese family letters in 2006.