Capítulo 941: Chapter 941: A museum with assets of 800 million (Part 2)
On March 3, Xia Yu received a phone call from Hua Shengshi at noon, just after finishing eating. The call was to report the good news that the Heung Kong Kowloon Cultural Museum, which had taken more than two years to build, was finally fully completed!
Even with Xia Yu's strong heart, he was still slightly excited upon hearing this good news.
At this time, he had no heart to take a nap, so he put on his jacket directly, got into the car and drove to Hua Shengshi's home. After picking him up, they rushed to the vicinity of Kowloon Bay in the Kwun Tong District of Kowloon.
Before the car arrived, through the car window, they could see a spectacular ancient palace in the distance, which was very visually impactful.
Xia Yu recalled in a daze that it seemed like it had been a year since he had last been here. The last time he had been here, he had seen bare steel and concrete columns, but now the changes were too great.
After a while, the car pulled up in the parking lot, and Xia Yu and the others got out. Under the guidance of Hua Shengshi, they found I. M. Pei.
'Mr. Pei, it's been a long time. Thank you for your hard work!'
Xia Yu walked over with a smile on his face, shook hands with I. M. Pei and said hello, then looked at the magnificent museum in front of him and exclaimed, 'The museum is so well designed! Standing here, you can feel the sense of heaviness and elegance coming at you, and it is highly distinctive, condensing the essence of Chinese architectural culture.'
Ieoh's high praise made I. M. Pei smile, and he quickly said modestly, 'Mr. Ieoh, I don't deserve such high praise.'
'Let me show you around.'
'Yes, please!'
Before the tour, I. M. Pei also went to get a copy of the museum's completion drawing for Ieoh, and then took him up the bluestone steps.
The Kowloon Cultural Museum faces south, with green hills at its back and the sea of Kowloon Bay in the distance. There are buildings on the northeast, east and west sides, and the main building at the front looks like a huge city gate. The greyish-green antique walls are 12.88 metres high. The group walked up the finely carved bluestone steps to the square at the same level as the main building, and then walked straight through the city gate.
The exterior of the museum is magnificent, while the interior focuses on the delicate and graceful beauty of Chinese culture.
Although the main structure of the Kowloon Cultural Museum is made of reinforced concrete, it is mainly used for load-bearing. Antique decorations have been added to the exterior and interior surfaces, which can be said to be a combination of modern technology and ancient art.
While I was listening to I. M. Pei's introduction, Xia Yu was admiring the building. After walking and stopping for more than two hours, he had seen the whole museum and gained a concrete understanding of it.
The entire museum covers an area of about 60,000 square metres, equivalent to 6 square hectares, which is also equivalent to 4.2% of the size of Jinding University.
Although Xia Yu's museum is far smaller than the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the United States in terms of floor area, and is even less than half of the National Palace Museum in Taiwan, it is already comparable in size to the National Palace Museum on the mainland.
Although Kwun Tong is a famous industrial area in Hong Kong, land prices are much cheaper than those on Hong Kong Island and other urban areas, it still cost more than 50 million Hong Kong dollars to buy such a large piece of land.
However, Xia Yu thinks it is a good deal. In the future, the museum will no longer have to consider the issue of expansion. With such a large area, it is enough to house one or two million pieces of collections. He is very happy that the museum will be full during his lifetime.
It is estimated that only a small part of the place can be used now!
After all, there aren't enough cultural relics.
Thinking about cultural relics, Xia Yu looked at Hua Shengshi next to him and asked, 'Hua Lao, may I ask, how many cultural relics have we collected so far?'
Hua Shengshi had long ago memorised the figures and blurted out, 'There are currently 11,914 antique cultural relics!'
Xia Yu smiled and said, 'Now that the museum is complete, we can start thinking about the layout.'
Hua Shengshi smiled and said, 'Mr Xia, I have been working on this project. When Mr. Bei was building the museum, I already had the back display in mind. All the cultural relics have been catalogued, and the exhibition halls for jades, calligraphy and paintings, ceramics, gold and silver wares, and bronzes have all been set up. All that remains is to ensure security, and then the cultural relics can be placed in the different categories.'
'Since you have prepared so thoroughly, I will arrange for the elite security team from Aegis Security to enter for security. Do you have any considerations for the opening and operation of the museum?' Xia Yu asked.
Hua Shengshi told him his thoughts: 'Mr Xia, although the exhibition halls and showcases have already been built, it will take at least 20 days to put the more than 10,000 cultural relics in. My suggestion is to choose a good day next month to officially open the museum.'
'And I think that the Kowloon Museum of Culture is your private museum, and you are already taking a big risk by displaying cultural relics to the public. For the safety of the relics and the future of the museum, the museum should charge an admission fee.'
Xia Yu thought for a moment and said, 'It should charge an admission fee. Free things are not cherished by anyone. Without a threshold, the pressure on the museum's operation will be great. However, the ticket price should not be too high. I don't rely on this to make money. It's enough to maintain the normal operation and maintenance of the museum.'
'As for the collection of cultural relics, it will mainly be based on my personal acquisitions. If the museum has a surplus, it can also be used to acquire cultural relics.'
By then, when the museum opens to the public, it will definitely need a large number of security guards to patrol and protect it, as well as a large number of staff. All these people have to be paid.
In addition, the museum will definitely need to be maintained and repaired every year, otherwise even the impenetrable walls will be corroded away in the rain and wind, not to mention the fact that the outside of the museum is made up of many antique architectural structures.
Even if the admission fee is HK$30 per person and the daily visitor flow reaches 10,000, the annual admission fee income will only be around HK$100 million. This requires everyone in Hong Kong to visit once a year, which is obviously impossible!
Perhaps when the mainlanders become rich in the future, it will stimulate the tourism market in Hong Kong and be able to open up the revenue ceiling of the Kowloon Cultural Museum.
Judging from the current situation in Hong Kong, it would be very good if the actual situation can reach tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars.
If you think about it, the museum is so big that it needs at least 500 security guards and staff members. Even if the average salary is 4,000 Hong Kong dollars a month, that's 2 million Hong Kong dollars a month in wages alone, or 24 million Hong Kong dollars a year.
Xia Yu knew that even the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, one of the world's four largest museums, had an annual income of 385 million US dollars, but its expenditure reached 400 million US dollars, and it was still losing money.
And 99% of the world's museums were losing money!
When he was alive, he was confident that he could support the Kowloon Museum of Cultural History, but this museum is something he plans to pass down to his family. If there is a spendthrift in the future who causes the family to decline and run out of money to maintain operations, it will be a big problem. It is better to establish a sound system from the beginning, and free admission is not allowed!
Hua Shengshi was moved by Xia Yu's attitude, but also considered Xia Yu's pressure.
There are already more than 10,000 cultural relics, of which more than 1,000 were donated by him, but the remaining nearly 10,000 cultural relics still cost more than 600 million Hong Kong dollars.
Together with the money spent on establishing the Kowloon Cultural Museum, Xia Yu has already invested more than 800 million Hong Kong dollars. This amount of money would be enough to put a pig in the top 50 richest people in Hong Kong!
If the Kowloon Cultural Museum is to become a world-class museum, the amount of money required would be astronomical.
Each of those world-class museums has more than one million cultural relics, and some even have more than four million.
Although not all cultural relics are masterpieces with high value, the sheer quantity is there for all to see, and when compared to Xia Yu's current collection of over 10,000 cultural relics, the difference is imaginable.
Xia Yu would have to invest over 100 billion Hong Kong dollars!
With so much money, why not invest it in something good, instead of pouring it into the bottomless pit that is the museum?
So Hua Shengshi spoke up and said, 'Mr Xia, I don't think it's realistic just to rely on you to fund the acquisition. We also need to increase other channels, such as accepting donations.'
'I believe there are definitely people like that in the world.'
Just like himself, he was able to donate all the more than 1,000 cultural relics to Xia Yu. People with a kind heart look at the world with kindness, so Hua Shengshi believed there would be people like him in the world.
Xia Yu thought carefully and said, 'This is also a solution, but Mr Hua, in order to dispel the doubts of the donors, we need to add a clause to the terms of accepting donations, that is, the donated cultural relics will never be sold on the market again and will only be used for exhibitions!'
Hua Shengshi nodded with a smile: 'Good, with this clause added, the donor can rest assured.'
'By the way, Mr Xia, there is one more thing, which is about the opening and operation of the museum.'
'Our Kowloon Cultural Museum is not well-known, and if there is no footfall, it will not be able to fulfil its role of cultural dissemination. Do you think we should hold a grand opening ceremony?'
Xia Yu frowned and thought for a moment, saying: 'An opening ceremony is definitely necessary, but that alone is not enough. It will not be able to attract the attention of people from all over Hong Kong and Macao.'
'We need to think of a special way.'
Hua Shengshi immediately started racking his brains after hearing this.
At that moment, Ieoh Ming Pei, who had been smiling and listening, suddenly said, 'Mr Xia, Mr Hua, when I was in the United States, I heard a rumour about this. Although the method is a bit dishonourable, I heard that the effect is very good.'
Xia Yu and Hua Shengshi immediately looked at Ieoh Ming Pei.
'Mr. Pei, I wonder what rumour you're talking about.'
Pei Yuming smiled slightly and said, 'I was in Florida at the time. A private museum in Florida was not doing well. The owner of that museum bought the highest-priced lot at an auction and brought it back to his own museum, causing a huge local sensation and a sudden surge in tourists.
'But then there was also some gossip that the relics the owner bought back were actually the top collections from his own private collection. Although he had to pay a commission to the auction house because of the auction, he quickly made the money back with the help of admission tickets afterwards, and the museum became even more famous.'
Xia Yu and Hua Shengshi exchanged glances.
Looking at Hua Shengshi's questioning eyes, Xia Yu said with a smile, 'Although this method is a bit unscrupulous, it is indeed a good method.'
'But since Sotheby's is owned by me, it's just like giving money from my left hand to my right hand, so let's do it.'
'Mr. Pei, you have solved another problem for us,' Xia Yu thanked Pei Yuming.
Pei Yuming waved his hands repeatedly and said, 'I was just talking casually. It's just that Mr. Xia has the ability to do this, and if it were anyone else, they wouldn't need to.'
'Thank you anyway!'
Xia Yu smiled and then looked at Hua Shengshi and asked, 'Mr Hua, I remember that Sotheby's spring auction is coming up this month, which is perfect. We still haven't displayed any of our 10,000-plus cultural relics yet. Which one has the highest value? Which one will cause the biggest stir?'
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