The originating of West China's Museum forum（as preface）
Curator of Gansu Provincial Museum
E Jun
The West China's Museum Forum is originated at the time when large numbers of recent archaeological discoveries are made， many new exhibition buildings are constructed， exhibitions of various kinds are opened to the public and many other developments in the field of museum are seen in China in the era of reform and opening-up-to-the-outside-world。 In particular， the policy of exploitation to the northwestern China enacted by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party provide a precious opportunity of development for museums in northwest China。We hope to serve the public， create the best social benefit and advertise ancient civilization in northwest China hand by hand with our colleagues from other museums in this region through this forum by getting our colleagues together， deepening our friendship， learning from each other， discussing the way to share our collections and museum resources。
1.“What a pleasure to have friends come afar！”
Although the time and distance are shorten greatly by the development of the science and technology in the information era， face-to-face communication is the mode which can not be substituted for people to get to know， establish friendship， enlarge intercourse。 Never get in touch with others is obvious a trite point of view of a narrow-sighted man。We， live on the neighboring pieces of land， share same historical and cultural continuity， corresponding origin of ethic groups and folk-customs， close economic and trade tie， should sit together discussing ourcommon concern in the field of museum， go out and tour the rivers and mountains on this piece of land， visit the cultural heritage which is somewhat familiar to us all。Now， we invite whole-heatedly the museum curators and experts from all parts of China to come to Lanzhou， to deepen our friendship， strengthen our contact， support each other and push forward the development of our career。The staff of Gansu Provincial Museum will give a warm welcome to our sincere friends and honored guests。