Palace Museum sees souvenir sales boom

"Zhuangzhuang",left,and"Meimei",themascotsofBeijing'sPalaceMuseum,areseenondisplayduringtheMuseumsandRelevantProductsandTechnologiesExpositioninXiamencity,EastChina'sFujianprovinceonNov23,2014.[Photo/IC]

(CHINADAILY)

Beijing'sPalaceMuseum,alsoknownastheForbiddenCity,announcedonWednesdaythatitssalesofsouvenirsin2015surpassed1billionyuan($154million).

ThenumberwasreleasedbymuseumdirectorShanJixiangduringhispresentationinHongKong.AccordingtoShan,themuseumhasdeveloped6,754kindsofculturalsouvenir.

"Wehavetoknowwhatpeoplereallyneedintermsofculturalconsumptionbeforewedesigntheseproducts,"Shansaid.

"Andmuseumscanfindresourcesfromtheircollectionstoexpresstheirownculture."

TheForbiddenCity,theworld'sbiggestpalacecomplex,wasChina'sroyalpalacefrom1420totheendofthemonarchyinearly1912.

Themuseumopenedashoponcommercewebsitetaobao.comin2008,butitssalesremainedlukewarmforyearsuntil2014whenmyriadeye-catchingproductscaughtthepublic'sattention.

Productslikeanimatedemperorfigurinesandearphonesintheshapeofpearlnecklacesthathigh-rankingofficialsworebecamebest-sellers.

In2013,themuseumbegantopromotetheproductswithhistoricalstoriesontheWeChatsocialnetworkingapp.Shansaidnewmediaisakeychannelformuseumstogetclosertopeople'sdailylives.

"Inthepast,mostproductswesoldwerereplicasofculturalrelics,"thedirectorsaid."Buttheycanbeofgoodtasteandinterestingatthesametime."

DuringShan'svisittoHongKong,ananonymousbusinessmanfilledthe80millionyuan($12.3million)shortfallinthemuseum'srenovationprojectfortheHallofMentalCultivation,theresidenceofeightemperors,HongKong-basednewspaperMingPaoreported.

Theproject,whichisscheduledtowindupin2020,willcost220millionyuanandhasattracted140millionyuanindonationsfromseveraltycoons.

"NomatterhowthePalaceMuseumdevelops,itwillcontinuetobeamuseumratherthanacommercialinstitution,"Shansaid.