Cui Zhaosen, a 71-year-old man in Jinan, capital of Shandong province, owns a "family museum" located in a 400-square-meter basement in the city's Shizhong district. 

He not only organized detailed life files for his family, but also moved objects of daily life of the past into the museum.

There are 14,500 old objects spanning more than half of a century, including old furniture of 1960s, Phoenix-brand bicycles, refrigerators and televisions in the 1970s, "Dageda", the first-generation mobile phone in the 1980s, audio combination in the 1990s and cameras in 21st century. 

The collections are old objects from ordinary people's daily life, which record the social changes in Jinan during the 40 years of reform and opening-up.

For Cui and people living in that era, these old objects carries the memories of three generations of a family and witnessed the changes in people's life in those days.

The ever-changing equipment and the replacement of tens of thousands of daily necessities indicate that people's demand for life has changed from "satisfaction" to "quality". It is a brilliant achievement of 40 years of reform and opening-up.

The era left behind is forever engraved in Cui's memory, which is extremely precious.

In addition to daily life objects, the museum also has a complete collection of the film magazine Popular Cinema from 1950 to December 2015 collected by Cui. It is by far the most complete collection in the country.

"Look, this is the bowl I used when I was a child. This is my mother's sewing basket during those years. This is a Dageda worth nearly 40,000 yuan ($5777) in 1992 and this is a small and convenient mobile phone we use today. In the past 40 years of reform and opening-up, the change of communication tools has had a profound impact on people's lives," said the 71-year-old man in his "house museum". He introduced the old objects to guests with great interest.

"These items carry the growth track of people, and also mark a memory of an era. I hope these things can be passed down from generation to generation," Cui said when touching the bowl his mother used in the past and turning over the textbook of his daughter when she was a child.

Cui Zhaosen introduces exhibits at his private museum in Jinan, Shandong province. [Photo/e23.cn]

Match coupons collected by Cui Zhaosen. The coupons were a substitute for cash that could be used to buy matches in the old days as China suffered from material shortage when it was newly founded.[Photo/e23.cn]

Cui's museum displays old furniture of the 1960s. [Photo/e23.cn]