Certified guides on duty at Shanghai museum

The Shanghai History Museum opened its exhibitions to certified tour guides on Sunday, with the first group of 12 young students learning about the city's evolution under the guidance of Xu Dandan.

The move comes as museums in Shanghai are trying to manage properly guided tours amid a significant influx of visitors this summer.

On Friday, the Shanghai Museum issued a formal notification banning unauthorized for-profit guided tours of its exhibitions to ensure "a safe and enjoyable environment".

"It takes lots of professional training to conduct guided tours in a museum," Xu said. "Each object has complicated background stories, and any exaggeration or inaccuracy could be misleading or even twist historical facts. Also, when you speak loudly, you could disturb other visitors."

Meanwhile, "on-site tour guides are important and completely different from the hard-facts-only virtual guides that you receive on your mobile phone by scanning the QR codes", according to Wang Zihan, an art lover and frequent visitor to museums in Shanghai.

"I have seen irresponsible guides pointing their laser pens at treasured ink paintings at the Shanghai Museum, and large crowds gathering in front of one object listening to the guide talk about it for quite a long time, so other visitors can't get a good view of it," she said. "I think museums should set specific rules about the qualifications needed for nonstaff tour guides, and maybe set a cap for the number of groups, too.

"I think one needs to have the endorsement of the museum before he or she can conduct a guided tour in it," she said.

To become a qualified tour guide at the Shanghai History Museum, Xu had to study for months. She spent a lot of time in the exhibition halls, learning about the exhibits and doing research about their backstories before taking an official assessment to acquire a license.

The Shanghai Museum encouraged visitors to take full advantage of its free resources, such as its free virtual guides on WeChat, which are written and recorded by the museum's curators. It also provides free guided tours every day, with the schedule announced on the notice board in the lobby.

Some museums in Shanghai, including the Bund One Art Museum, and the Museum of Art Pudong, have no limitations on paid tour guides "as long as they have the tickets and don't affect other visitors", said Cao Yang, a spokeswoman for the MAP.