Guangdong Museum of Art

This guide to the Guangdong Museum of Art in Guangzhou tells how the museum broke ground in December nineteen ninety on an empty, undeveloped river sandbar called Ersha Island, with no roads, water pipes or electricity yet in place. You'll hear how the budget climbed from about twenty nine million yuan through seven rounds of extra funding, and how staff called those years kaihuang, breaking wasteland, the term for settling a frontier. It follows Tang Xiaoming, who ran the preparatory office through most of the decade chasing funding and materials for a building that kept outrunning its budget. Listen for how the sculpture garden and paths around you came together after the fact.