China should set up a national martial arts museum in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to better publicize it during the Games, a Chinese political advisor has said.

"The museum should consist of two parts, one for the exhibition of instruments, documents, books and compact discs and the other for the demonstration of well-trained practitioners," said Zhang Chengfen, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People 's Political Consultative Conference, the top advisory body.

Zhang, also vice-president of Jinan University of Shandong Province, said the museum will also boost economic growth of Beijing.

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said in Shanghai on Oct. 16 last year that martial arts, or Wushu in Chinese, will not become an Olympic sport nor an exhibition sport in the 2008 Beijing Games.

But to comfort the Chinese organizers, who have been trying hard in the past decade to persuade the IOC to accept Wushu as an official Olympic event, Rogge said there would be an international Wushu competition organized by the Beijing Organizing Committee of the 2008 Olympic Games.

Source: Xinhua