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May 18 is International Museum Day. This year's theme—"The Future of Museums in Rapidly Changing Communities"—closely aligns with the mission of Sun Yat-sen University Museum in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province. As a teaching-oriented museum, it breaks down the traditional boundaries between exhibitions and classrooms. For Chinese-Canadian student Li Shimin, the museum became the starting point of a personal journey to uncover his cultural identity.

From an early age, Li struggled with questions of dual cultural belonging: What does "Li Shimin (the Tang Dynasty’s renowned emperor)" have to do with me? What is this China my parents speak of—a land of both 5,000 years of history and modern marvels?

In early 2023, Li arrived at Sun Yat-sen University as an international student. It was there, within the university's museum, that he began learning about Chinese history and gradually shifted from being a cultural observer to an active participant.

In this museum, scanning a QR code on an exhibit card instantly brings up detailed information about artifacts—such as ceramics from the Tang Dynasty (618-907). With every exploration, the ancient stories told by his elders began to merge with the image of modern China. 

"I used to think ancient China existed only in the stories my family told," Li reflects. 

"Now I understand that this 5,000-year-old civilization doesn't just preserve the past—it connects us in the present and offers hope for the future."

Whether in the Ceramics Teaching Hall or in themed exhibitions on ancient Chinese civilization, Lingnan cultural history, and ethnic traditions of southwestern China, Li found himself face-to-face with the heritage of a civilization. In the pulse of Lingnan culture, he discovered his own cultural coordinates: "China is not only the land of my parents—it is also my cultural hometown."

(Video produced by Xia Wenhui, Yu Andong, Feng Xianzhe)