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January 25, 2019

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Online sales boom breathing new life into once-neglected museums

Notebooks featuring skating performances for the Qing royal family and replicas of couplets written by emperors are among the online items the Palace Museum hopes to entice customers to buy this Spring Festival.

Online buyers have snapped up more than 9,000 replicas of the Chinese character 鈥淔u鈥 and couplets written by emperors of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) over the past month on the museum鈥檚 online souvenir shop.

As a Spring Festival tradition, Chinese people put up 鈥淔u鈥 posters, which means good luck and happiness, and couplets on their gates and doors to wish for a good year.

鈥淚 purchased notebooks, phone cases and other cultural products with designs inspired by the national treasures on display in the museum as New Year gifts,鈥 said Miao Yining, a Beijing-based office worker.

Attracted by the online retail offering, Miao and her family plan to visit the museum at Beijing鈥檚 Forbidden City and see an exhibition on about the royal Spring Festival.

Museums and galleries have become more commercially minded, realizing cultural merchandise can increase their impact and online shopping can be a way of creating loyalty among a younger generation.

By the end of last year, more than 10 museums including the National Museum of China, the Summer Palace, and Emperor Qinshihuang鈥檚 Mausoleum Site Museum had opened shops on Alibaba鈥檚 Tmall, selling original cultural products ranging from handicrafts and home supplies to stationery.

Even the British Museum opened an online store on Tmall last year to tap the burgeoning Chinese market. The shop was flooded with orders.

In the first 10 months of 2018, the number of searches for 鈥渕useum鈥 on leading e-commerce retail platforms Tmall and Taobao more than doubled from the same period in 2016.

Four entries can be found on the official website of the Palace Museum, directing users to various stores on different Chinese social media and e-commerce platforms.

The museum has created a consumer brand based on the historic landmark, selling various merchandise from Chinese-style paper tapes, table mats and canvas bags to lipsticks and scarves.

According to Yan Hongbin, vice curator of the museum, the sales of the original cultural products on its Tmall store alone have recorded a nearly 200 percent growth every year.

Museums are a key way for Chinese people to learn about the country鈥檚 cultural relics.

The number of museums in China has increased from 349 in 1978 to more than 5,000, with about 1 billion visits a year, according to the National Cultural Heritage Administration.

Thanks to people鈥檚 growing enthusiasm for museums and cultural heritage, TV programs such as 鈥淣ational Treasure,鈥 showcasing the history of China鈥檚 cultural relics, have become huge hits.

Jin Wei, researcher with culture and economics institute at the Communication University of China, said museums could better communicate with younger consumers and promote long-neglected culture to the public via e-commerce.


 

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