Tourists visit the Palace Museum on Sept 10, 2014. [Photo by Shi Yan/Asianewsphoto]

Beginning in December, teachers, soldiers and other specific groups of people will have the chance to visit the Palace Museum for free.

To stimulate tourism in slack season and also to fulfill its role in social education, the museum is opening the door to teachers, students, soldiers and policemen, medical workers and volunteers for free on the first Wednesday of every month, with each specific group given a certain date to visit.

As to why these groups of people were chosen, the museum said it is to show respect to teachers and to help students know more about traditional culture. Soldiers, policemen and medical workers are very occupied by their work and the museum aims to meet their cultural needs. Volunteers should be encouraged to visit.

People who are included in the groups and interested in the museum should make appointments at this website: http://gugong.228.com.cn. Consulting telephone number: 4006-228-228.

The first batch of open days is as follows:

Date	Special group
Dec 3, 2014	teachers
Jan 7, 2015	college students
Feb 4, 2015	soldiers and policemen
March 4, 2015	medical workers
April 1, 2015	volunteers