Per reporter: Dong Xingsheng Per intern reporter: Li Jianning Per editor: Song Hong
Masks, gloves, goggles, chisels, hammers, Luoyang shovels, when the yellow earth block is knocked down little by little, revealing a bronze corner hidden deep in it, will it be a bronze erection or a gold-faced bronze figure?
The "archaeological excavation phenomenon", which was once only seen on television, has now become a reality without leaving home but under one's own hands, all thanks to the emergence of the "archaeological blind box". Although it is no longer a novel form, museum cultural and creative products such as "archaeological blind box" have performed particularly well in this year's Tmall Double 11.
On the first day of double 11 this year, as of 10:00 a.m. on the same day, the museum's cultural and creative products on the first day of the Tmall double 11 sale ushered in an outbreak, a year-on-year surge of more than 400%, and the new cultural creation became one of the largest dark horses of Tmall double 11.
How to make cultural relics move from high cold to the public, so that cultural heritage can be alive and passed on, has become a common topic in the cultural and cultural circles. The living cultural heritage is also increasingly sought after by young consumers.
On October 18, the official weibo of the Henan Museum solicited suggestions from netizens to "raise cats", and the "Tmall spokesperson" registered in the Weibo comments, and the next day the two were officially announced: Henan Museum settled in Tmall.
The "Daily Economic News" reporter learned that in addition to the Henan Museum, the Gansu Provincial Museum, Chengdu Du Fu Caotang Museum and other museums have also organized groups to settle in Tmall on the eve of the official arrival of Double 11.
It is reported that this year, nearly 100 museums such as the Palace Museum, the National Museum of China, the Suzhou Museum, the National Library of China, the Potala Palace, and the Dunhuang Research Institute participated in Tmall Double 11, and the outbreak of more than 400% on the first day of sale also confirmed the attractiveness of the museum's cultural and creative products to the public.
In the Taobao store of Henan Museum, the top three products sold are "Jade Pei Fruit Candy", "Archaeological Blind Box" and "Cultural Relics Restoration Blind Box", and the first two monthly sales quantity is 4000+. According to the Henan Museum, from December last year to October this year, archaeological blind boxes sold about 360,000 yuan, with sales exceeding 30 million yuan. In the view of Song Hua, director of the founding of the Henan Museum, the integration of archaeological excavations into the process of "unpacking the box" allows buyers to feel the moment of discovery history in such an independent "archaeological site".
Cultural relics blind box Image source: Henan Museum Tmall flagship store
Behind the sharp increase in sales of museum cultural and creative products is the public's obsession and love for history, culture, cultural relics and monuments, and the development of the digital economy has also made it possible for cultural relics to enter thousands of households from museums.
A set of data released at the 2019 Tmall New Cultural and Creative Conference showed that the number of people visiting museums online exceeded offline for the first time in the previous year, and the cumulative number of visits to the flagship store of museums on Taobao Tmall alone reached 1.6 billion, which is 1.5 times that of the number of museum receptions nationwide.
Jia Luo, general manager of the Tmall platform operation division at the conference, also announced that by 2022, the "treasures of the town museum" of global museums will be on Tmall, and cross-border cooperation with 10,000 brands will be carried out.
Nowadays, the museum's cultural and creative products are riding on the east wind of digital e-commerce, combining the thick historical connotation with the brisk form of entertainment, ushering in a new spring.
Once upon a time, although there was only a layer of glass between the museum relics high above and ordinary people, the distance was very far. With the continuous development of the Internet and digital technology, more and more museums have begun to use digital technology to move from "high cold" to the public, and the concept of digital literature and bloggers was born.
At the same time, how to make cultural relics come alive and enter a larger range of people has also become a must-answer question in front of major museums. As a result, the cultural relics in Chen's display cabinets were turned into cultural and creative products such as ice cream, slogans, calendars, and blind boxes.
The Palace Museum is undoubtedly one of the forerunners. As early as 2009, the Forbidden City began to launch a calendar with books, paintings, ancient books, bronzes, jade and other cultural relics printed in the Collection of the Palace Museum. Since then, cultural and creative products such as lipstick and ice cream launched by the Forbidden City have also repeatedly aroused concern and heated discussion.
Shan Jixiang, former director of the Palace Museum, once revealed that the Palace Museum has been constantly designing, developing and producing different products according to people's needs. By the end of 2018, the number of cultural and creative products developed by the Forbidden City exceeded 19,200. At present, the 2022 Forbidden City calendar has been launched, "with the goal of selling 1 million copies".
《Forbidden City Calendar》 Image source: Forbidden City Tmall official flagship store
After the Forbidden City, other museums have followed suit, combining local characteristics and cultural relics in their collections, and constantly developing highly recognizable cultural and creative products. Not only that, Internet companies with the strategy of "new cultural creation" have also begun to actively seek cooperation with museums, jointly launching cultural and creative products, while also drawing materials from the cultural heritage of museums.
In 2018, after Tencent proposed a new cultural and creative strategy, it quickly proposed a "digital cultural protection solution" and landed the plan through the Dunhuang "Digital Provider" plan. The project first helps to restore and preserve Dunhuang's rich cultural information through digital technology, and tries to give new vitality to the modeling elements in the Dunhuang Grottoes through the interpretation of modern art forms, "so that they can once again become an integral part of daily life".
The Henan Museum opened the precedent of "archaeological blind box" for the first time in the second half of 2019, combining the concept of "blind box" with cultural relics, allowing consumers to experience the fun of archaeological excavation. In 2021, the Jiangxi Provincial Museum and the Sanxingdui Museum have also launched archaeological blind box products.
In addition to formal innovation, museum cultural and creative products have also continued to make bolder attempts, and many museums have directly opened online stores on Tmall and other platforms, including the Sanxingdui Museum, which just entered Tmall in May 2021.
"In recent years, with the great development of material civilization and the improvement of cultural quality, cultural relics as the carrier of excellent traditional culture, loved by the public, more and more cultural institutions in order to meet the public's love and pursuit of the beauty of cultural relics and art, developed a large number of cultural and creative products, a number of cultural and creative become Internet celebrities, explosive models. This cultural phenomenon reflects the public's love for traditional culture and highly identifies with the aesthetic taste of China's excellent traditional culture and art. Tang Fei, president of the Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said in an interview with every reporter.
Tang Fei Image source: Courtesy of the Organizing Committee of the World Famous Cities Forum
How to develop cultural and creative products in museums, Tang Fei suggested that in the selection of themes, forms, intentions, etc., first of all, according to the artistry of the museum's collections, combined with practicality, ornamentation, commemoration, etc., to choose themes that meet the public interest; the forms can be diverse, and the intention should be separated from the reproduction of rigid dogmas on cultural relics. "In developing cultural and creative products, we should avoid falling into simple reproduction of cultural relics or the enlargement and reduction of cultural relics pictograms."
Tang Fei also suggested that museums at all levels in Sichuan Province should learn to integrate more into social and economic construction, broaden the channels of dissemination of museum art and cultural creativity, especially the Sanxingdui Museum and Du Fu Caotang, which have opened Tmall flagship stores and already have some experience to promote. "At the same time, Sichuan's cultural and cultural circles should learn and adapt to how to make better use of the Internet, e-commerce, etc., explore the social and economic value of cultural relics, realize the social benefits brought about by the development of culture and cultural tourism, provide more cultural and artistic products for the society, and meet the increasingly strong people's living needs."
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