Museums win over Chinese youth with cute, collectible merchandise

BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Tourist Liao Weiduo stood at the counter and selected a range of ingredients to go into her spicy hotpot, then watched as they were "cooked" on a little stove. However, she never got to taste the end result, for her purchases were soft-fabric replicas, cute museum souvenirs that she would be taking home in a bag.

The young lady -- a member of Generation Z -- was one of many visitors to the Gansu Provincial Museum during the weeklong National Day holiday, which concluded on Oct. 7. Her souvenirs were a nod to the amusing and personalized toys of popular British brand Jellycat, and they really made Liao's day, being instantly shared on social media.

"This kind of creative cultural product and ritual is so interesting!" Liao wrote in a social media post.

The hotpot merchandise, featuring vegetable and meat-shaped toys reflecting the Gansu version of the spicy dish Malatang, is one of the most sought-after mementos in the Gansu Provincial Museum.

Another popular item purchased by Liao was a cartoonish green horse toy, which was inspired by a Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) bronze horse statue, a cultural heritage treasure collected by the museum.

"These mementos are full of local features, which make them really distinctive," she said.

Liao is among an increasing number of young Chinese people who gravitate toward museums while traveling and are eager to mark their visits with cultural merchandise. Such buys range from crown fridge magnets from the National Museum of China to the "chubby sword" toys from the Suzhou Museum.

Analyzing the popularity of such merchandise, Bu Xiting, associate researcher with the School of Cultural Industries Management at the Communication University of China, said that their cute design has narrowed the distance between cultural heritage and young people.

To pass down cultural heritage and boost cultural relevance among young people, it is essential to get closer to them, said Bu, adding that ideally, cultural products translate traditional culture into modern terms and integrate themselves into the discourse of young people.

In recent years, museums across the country have been striving to enhance their appeal amid a growing enthusiasm for museum-going. According to statistics from the National Cultural Heritage Administration, Chinese museums received a record 1.29 billion visits in 2023, and this year's National Day holiday alone saw 74.88 million museum-goers.

As more and more young people are willing to visit museums, creative cultural mementos serve as a bridge to connect visitors and museums, said Cui Youxin, who is in charge of the merchandise section of the Gansu Provincial Museum.

"We hope that through these mementos, people can feel that museums can be very young, very lively and very relaxing," Cui said.

Thanks to the abundant and diverse supply of such products, there is also an increasing number of young people who collect museum merchandise as a hobby, forming their own circles based on shared interests. Wang Nanxing, also from Generation Z, is one of them.

"I have hundreds of pieces in my collection, most of which are fridge magnets and cultural ornaments," Wang said.

He has even made display cases at home, lit them up and carefully arranged mini "cultural relic" displays, like those found in museums.

"I want to try to restore the feeling of the objects in the museum," Wang said with a smile. "Although I can't take real relics home, I feel so content just looking at these small replicas every day."

Wang has also made a lot of like-minded friends because of his hobby. They often share the latest museum merchandise information and engage in heated reviews of cultural products on social media.

Commenting on the phenomenon, Cui noted that, in an era when young people share interesting things on social media, only those products with social attributes have the potential to spread and go viral.

Bu believes that, leaving aside the products themselves, the consumption scenes featuring stories, plots and a sense of ceremony can evoke richer emotional resonance from consumers.

"These will also make it easier for people to feel the creative cultural merchandise in a dynamic way and gain the pleasure of sharing such an experience, thus boosting the spread of the merchandise," Bu added.