Attracting visitors is a challenge facing many museums. Beijing's Ancient Architecture Museum, with many of its rare relics dating back to China's ancient times, held a special activity right before International Museum Day. It invited dozens of young teachers to take part in exhibitions and learn about ancient architecture technology. Song Yaotian has the story.

Located in Xian Nong Tan, or the Temple of Agriculture, an architectural wonder in itself, the Beijing Ancient Architecture Museum is the first museum in China dedicated to collecting, studying and exhibiting items of ancient Chinese architecture.

Dozens of middle school teachers from Beijing's Dongcheng district were treated to a free trip to the museum right before International Museum Day, to see the museum's main exhibition called "Demonstration of Chinese Ancient Architecture". A museum attendant told them stories behind the key exhibits.

Through rich pictures and exquisite models, these young teachers learned about the changes in Chinese architecture style from the original thatched huts to the rigorous and magnificent palace constructions. They learned about the construction process of ancient buildings, tools and materials, and some ancient techniques, such as "tenon and mortise" and "Dou Gong".

Many Chinese ancient buildings were made of wood, but the traditional artisans didn't use nails to connect the pieces. Instead, they used a tenon tongue and mortise hole. And these unique structures were very stable, allowing some of the most well-known architectural icons like the halls of the Forbidden City, to stand still for hundreds of years.

The other technique, "Dou Gong", is a unique structural element of interlocking wooden brackets, used to support large roofs.

Visitors were able to see some real life examples of these two types of structures.

GUO SHUANG MUSEUM ATTENDANT "Compared to those large, modern museums, our museum attracts fewer visitors. But as a serene ancient architecture site as well as a museum within Beijing's second ring road, we draw people with a motive to learn about the Temple of Agriculture. In addition, students wanting to learn about ancient architecture come. And some senior citizens also come, out of their love for the building complex and the relics."

What better way to really learn this fascinating technology that Chinese invented thousands of years ago, than to take part in hands-on activities. Here the instructor was demonstrating how a typical Dou Gong bracket was built. Then everyone was asked to unlock and assemble this kind of gadget, using the "tenon and mortise" technique.

SONG YAOTIAN BEIJING In traditional Chinese architecture, there were no nails or glue, nothing holding it together other than this kind of structure, called "tenon and mortise", locking different pieces together. By piecing together different parts themselves, visitors can really learn some ancient Chinese architecture technology, and appreciate the wisdom of Chinese ancestors.

The Ancient Architecture Museum has held this kind of activity since last year, mainly organizing students from nearby schools to experience the ancient technologies. And this time around, they are providing this "see and experience" tour to middle school teachers, in hopes that they can pass on the knowledge and fun to their students.

LI YING, DEPUTY DIRECTOR EDUCATION CENTER, ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE MUSEUM "We organize these middle school teachers to participate in the activity, in hopes that they can apply the knowledge and experiences to their teaching process. Therefore, more kids will learn about traditional culture. And affected by these teachers, more students will come to our museum."

The teachers think the knowledge gained from the activity is more relevant to their daily lives.

MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER "Normally we only hear and see things in a museum. But in this activity, we used our hands to assemble. So it is more practical. And it adds our interest to the knowledge. And our interest in all these can be passed on to our students. With these activities, students will be more likely to visit a museum."

The Beijing Ancient Architecture Museum is only one of ninty-nine museums in Beijing open free to the public on International Museum Day. And this activity is only part of the efforts that the museum's curators are using to reach out to and draw more visitors. Song Yaotian,CGTN.