When you go to most museums in the world, you’ll find that the price of entry is usually up on the wall for all to see. But a private museum in Beijing is leaving the decision of how much to pay up to its visitors. It's relying on the strength of its exhibits to encourage people to cough up the cash.

The Songtangzhai Museum in Beijing's Liulichang district is the first private museum in the country collecting folk building items. It's housed in what used to be an old store.

It's taken the museum's curator years to amass the thousand-plus pieces in the collection. The exhibits themselves span nearly 2,000 years, ranging from tiles of the Spring and Autumn Period to painted beams and exquisite archways.

The museum has struggled to attract interest and only a few architecture enthusiasts have passed through the institution's doors. So that's why the museum has taken this step.

Li Songtang, curator of Songtangzhai Museum, said: "We hope more visitors will come here to get a better understanding of national culture. We also want to bring in more money to run the museum."

The curator says that last year the museum ran at an 80,000 yuan loss. That equates to about US$10,000. He hopes this move will help the museum turn its fortunes around.

(CCTV.com August 22, 2003)