Museums promote cultural confidence

Editor's note: China has seen tremendous changes nationwide, from economic growth to environmental protection, from social improvement to cultural progress. In this series, China Daily maps the changes and tells the stories of the people who lived through them.

Visitors at Three Sus temple, Sanxingdui Ruins learn the importance of traditions, moral precepts

Despite the COVID-19 epidemic, people from different parts of Sichuan province are still visiting the Ancestral Temple of the Three Sus in the center of the city of Meishan, Sichuan province.

The temple, which was the former home of literary masters Su Xun (1009-66) and his two sons Su Shi (1037-1101) and Su Zhe (1039-1112), was transformed into a memorial site and gardenlike museum. The Three Sus are among eight of China's most famous literary masters, who lived during the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties.

Most visitors come to the museum with their children to encourage them to learn more about Chinese traditions, according to Yang Zhengnan, a 68-year-old resident who lives nearby. Visitors stream in every day after the museum gate opens. Many were inspired to come after President Xi Jinping visited on June 8, said Yang, a photographer who has taken photos there for 25 years.

Xi has quoted the Three Sus' words of wisdom on multiple occasions. In 2019, while presiding over a session reviewing and adopting the Communist Party of China Central Committee's decisions on some major issues, including ways to uphold and improve the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and to advance the modernization of Chinese governance, Xi cited words taken from a piece written by Su Shi, the best-known of the Three Sus, "Overcome the hardest part and pursue the highest target."