GRAND BUILDING: The west hall of the National Museum of China (SHI GANG)

Zhang Chunwei (www.cnr.cn): Is a luxury luggage brand really so important even China's national museum could not afford to miss the opportunity to exhibit it? Of course, different people have different viewpoints. Is Louis Vuitton qualified to be exhibited in the National Museum of China? The answer to this question lies in how people define art and business.

People may not easily tell whether Louis Vuitton falls into the category of art or business. The fact is the luxury brand has been more commercial than art since its launching in China in 1991. Its commercials are widely seen here in China. Surveys show Louis Vuitton tops the best recognized luxury brands in China. People even consider it conveys the status of being rich, so average people tighten their belt to buy a Louis Vuitton bag.

People in China who see a person carrying a Louis Vuitton bag naturally ask if it is real or fake. At the moment, the brand just labels social status and property and is far from being artwork. Should it appear in the National Museum of China which is home to classics of art? It is indeed a question.

Good try

Pei Yu (www.cnr.cn): Many people cannot tell the difference between an art exhibition and one focusing on cultural relics. For a museum, it is a function to both display ancient treasures and artwork.

Some think that holding a luxury brand show in the National Museum of China is too commercial and not appropriate. I don't think so. Many museums have held exhibitions of this kind, for example, the photo shows of famous Beijing-based roast duck restaurant Quanjude and Tianjin-based snack shop Goubuli in museums. Louis Vuitton is just another famous international brand. So why is its exhibition unacceptable?

Louis Vuitton paid the National Museum of China a high price for the exhibition simply because of the museum's excellent environment and facilities. This is nothing out of the ordinary. Every exhibitor pays money to the museum.

Wang Boqiao (www.chinanews.com): Take another luxury brand, Cartier, as an example. It has been exhibited in the British Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York city, the Palace Museum in Beijing and Shanghai Museum. I think that if an exhibition is allowed to be held in the National Museum of China, it must be a perfect combination of art and business.

The National Museum of China was reorganized out of two separate museums that had already occupied the building—the former Museum of the Chinese Revolution and the former National Museum of Chinese History. This makes people feel the museum was too serious and hard to approach. I think the Louis Vuitton exhibition will help to make the museum more lively, modern and inclusive.