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Many people dine in public, but how often does the public come to a private dining room£¿ A dining£­room£­turned£­private£­museum opened recently in Tianjin Municipality and is attracting a lot of attention.

This dining room museum, known as the Yueweixian, contains more than 6,000 historical artifacts, setting a Guinness Record for the largest collection in a private museum. Besides ancient sculptures, the most eye£­catching on display are the old articles of everyday use. The earliest refrigerator and the bicycles have an 80£­year history. And going back even further, to the Warring States Period about 2,400 years ago, are these eating utensils and cooking equipment.

All visitors say that they have a feeling the biggest difference between this museum and the official ones is distance. Seeing the artifacts close up makes visitors feel history isn't far away.

Archeological administrative departments are attempting to raise public consciousness of relic protection, saying that with more and more pieces going to market, some will be lost without being noticed.

Zhang Lianzhi, Owner of the Yueweixian Museum, said, "I just want to do something to better protect the precious heritage left by our ancestors. These things don't belong to myself, but to the whole Chinese nation."

Experts say that encouraging and supporting museums of this kind is useful for collecting and preserving relics that people may not be aware that they have. Private museums provide an important supplement and complement to public ones.