Gaoligong Handmade Paper Museum is located in Xinzhuang Village, Tengchong. It is a rural public museum invested by the local people. The building was designed as an architectural complex composed of the several small buildings, like a miniature village. The Xinzhuang village and the museum totally present a larger natural museum, because every family could show the excellent craftsmanship of the paper making. Condensing the spatial experience of the village, the museum was built in 2008.
During the late Qing Dynasty, with the development of the local economy and the prosperity of culture, Tengchong gradually became the culture center of the southwestern Yunnan Province. Papermaking played an important role in it. After the 1949s, the village once used the production teams as a unit to make paper and implemented a centralized system. Due to the spread of the modern paper technology, the enthusiasm of handmade papermakers was affected. The papermaking industry in the surrounding villages gradually declined.
Features of Gaoligong Handmade Paper Museum
The unique design of the museum aims to give people an experience of constantly shifting between the internal exhibition and the exquisite natural landscape outside. It will help to show the inseparability of architecture, papermaking and the environment.
The exhibitions of the museum consist of the six exhibition halls of various shapes around the central courtyard, which form a winding visiting route. Inside the museum, there are the office areas, tea rooms and guest rooms. In the middle of the courtyard on the first floor, there is a tea room that can be completely opened to the courtyard. The second floor is the office area, which is connected with the rooms on the third floor. A platform with a view of the mountains is built on outdoor staircase.
The museum will be a base for exhibiting, researching, protecting as well as developing the local traditional ancient papermaking skills. The original intention of the museum is to protect and promote the ancient handmade paper crafts and the traditional Chinese cultures. The museum actively promotes exchanges between the local paper-making inheritors and the outside world.