Forbidden City promotes traditional culture via new media

The Forbidden City will cooperate with China's Internet giant Tencent to develop its intellectual property value, according to a report by Caixin.com.

The Forbidden City and Tencent signed a three-year strategic cooperation agreement on the evening of July 6 to carry out a campaign involving social media platforms and entertainment, including virtual and augmented reality, according to the report.

Pony Ma, founder and CEO of Tencent, said at a press conference that his company hopes to energize and revitalize traditional culture through new media.

According to the agreement, Tencent will launch a new version of its most popular video mobile game, with the new version themed around Beijing's Forbidden City. The game, a Chinese hit similar to Candy Crush, will be released later this month, and Tencent said it will also encourage its game developers to brainstorm ideas for more games based on the same theme. Another promotion will invite social media users to submit designs for Internet meme "stickers" inspired by the attraction.

As reported previously by People's Daily Online, tourists can buy tickets to the Forbidden City on Alitrip, a subsidiary of Alibaba. By scanning either the ticket code or their ID cards, they can then go directly into the Palace Museum.

Feng Nai'en, vice director of the Forbidden City, said that neither Tencent nor the city itself will collect any profits from this campaign. "This is a charitable cooperation," said Feng.