As paper calendars have lost popularity, many people are turning to digital calendars on smartphones, with creative calendars featuring novel designs and Chinese cultural elements regaining popularity in China in recent years.

With the year 2021 approaching, several types of creative calendars have already hit the market.

A calendar themed on traditional Chinese poems features paintings of blooming flowers. (Photo/Liang Yuan)

The Palace Museum’s themed calendar for the next year features 365 collections of different types from various dynasties, specifically exhibiting Chinese farming culture.

The National Museum of China selected 365 collections from its over 1.4 million treasures, arranging them in chronological order for the themed calendar of 2021, using fonts originating from traditional Chinese calligraphy.

Both themed calendars of the Palace Museum and the National Museum of China introduce knowledge about China’s cultural relics, sharing cultural information along with historical dates.

Another popular calendar themed on select traditional Chinese poems in both Chinese and English, with the English versions translated by distinguished Chinese literature translator Xu Yuanchong, features works from an album of flower paintings by Italian painter Giuseppe Castiglione.

File photo: a page of the Palace Museum’s themed calendar for the year 2021. (Photo/Courtesy of the Palace Museum)

“The choice of a theme for a creative calendar is very important, requiring painstaking effort and relatively high production cost,” said Liang Yuan, an editor at the China Intercontinental Press.

The popularity of creative calendars also reflects a change in people’s consumption as they focus more on design, which is reflected in how delicate calendars will generally sell well despite their high price, Liang added.

According to data from an e-commerce platform, the latest calendar of the National Museum of China comes to the cost of 99 yuan (almost $15), while the price of the Palace Museum’s stands at 76 yuan (about $11).