Text: Xiao Peng's brilliant notes
Editor|Xiao Peng's brilliant notes
[Preface]
"The Forbidden City is short of money, and it will always be short of money. ”
This is what the director of the Forbidden City once said, in the previous relevant statistics, when the annual cultural and creative income of the Forbidden City was 1.5 billion, 54% of the annual funds used came from state subsidies.
Now, with the development and progress of the times, the convenience of transportation and the development of the network have also made more and more people understand the heritage and history of the Forbidden City, and come from all over to appreciate this great building.
We all know that there are tickets to come to the Forbidden City, and there are a series of cultural and creative activities, etc., which have been welcomed by people, and now the annual cultural and creative income of the Forbidden City plus ticket income has exceeded more than 2 billion.
This astonishing income also makes everyone wonder, so why does the director of the Forbidden City say that the Forbidden City is always short of money, and needs to apply for financial subsidies?
【Income of the Forbidden City】
In 2019, there was a statistic that showed that as a differential appropriation unit, 54% of all the expenditures of the Forbidden City were provided by the state, while the remaining 46% were earned by themselves.
So what kind of earning method is this "earning"?
The first is the income of the traditional tickets that we are all familiar with, generally in the off-season, the ticket cost per person is 40 yuan, and in the peak season it is 60 yuan per person.
Some scenic spots are charged separately, such as the Treasure Hall and the Clock Hall, the price is 10 yuan, compared with the price of some other scenic spots, the price of the Forbidden City can be said to be very conscientious.
However, it is worth mentioning that the heritage and charm of the Forbidden City are irreplaceable by other scenic spots, and the number of visitors is also unique compared with other places.
Previously, the Palace Museum had predicted a set of data, saying that the reception capacity of the Forbidden City on the limit day was 80,000 people, so while collecting tickets, the Forbidden City would also limit the flow of people every day, and the limit was about 80,000.
However, in 2016, the audience of the Forbidden City reached about 16 million, so the Forbidden City's income in this area is still very considerable.
Another source of income is cultural creativity, the Forbidden City's cultural and creative income is almost twice as much as the ticket revenue, and the concept of using cultural creativity to generate income began in 2013.
At that time, the National Palace Museum in Taipei first launched the paper tape with the theme of "I know" in the Forbidden City, which became popular on the Internet and gained widespread love from people, and even once reached a price of NT$400.
Inspired by this, the Palace Museum began to set up a cultural and creative team, and data shows that in 2013, the Palace Museum added 195 creative cultural products.
Then, in 2014, 265 kinds of cultural and creative products were added, and in 2016, it directly increased by hundreds of times, and the cultural and creative products of this IP directly increased to more than 9,170 kinds.
The corresponding sales also rose from 600 million yuan at the beginning to about 1 billion yuan in 2016, in fact, in 2010, Taobao of the Forbidden City already existed, and also sold certain peripheral products.
However, the real explosion of this IP was in 2013 to win the hearts of the public with a "cute" attitude, and ran all the way to the super IP.
In 2017, the annual cultural and creative income of the Forbidden City basically reached 1.5 billion, you must know that at that time, there were more than 1,500 A-share listed companies whose operating income was not so high.
Nowadays, with the development and progress of the Internet, the value and significance of cultural creativity have been further promoted under the traffic of self-media.
Shan Jixiang, director of the Forbidden City, has said that the mission of the Forbidden City's cultural creativity since its birth is not only to make money, but also to expand the influence of the Forbidden City, promote the heritage culture of the Forbidden City, and show the charm of traditional Chinese culture is its ultimate mission.
And this initial goal is gradually being achieved, so since the income is growing steadily, why does the Forbidden City still need to apply for state subsidies?
【Reasons for the high cost】
While seeing the huge flow of people, we should also see that under the cover of people, the loss and fading of cultural relics, in 2016, the Forbidden City moved and repaired the cultural relics in a building of the Yangxin Palace, and the funds required to invest have reached 40 million yuan.
In 2019, the report showed that in the past 10 years of repair, nearly 1.29 billion yuan has been invested, and at that time, it was only mainly repaired, and now the Forbidden City still has daily maintenance.
Manpower, materials, and time, in the repair or maintenance of the Forbidden City, each is a huge loss, and it has been said that the floor tiles of the Forbidden City are made of gold.
This is really not an exaggeration, because the time it takes to make a brick in the ancient method is about 720 days, and it takes 7 processes to make a piece.
A one-foot-square gardenia brick carving that would take a week to restore is China's iconic palace museum, home to more than 10 million precious artifacts and nearly 1,000 ancient buildings.
In the changing times, if you want to maintain their original appearance, you always have to maintain these cultural relics and values, and the cost is naturally large.
Therefore, in 2022, the director of the Forbidden City will actively apply for financial subsidies like the state, and all the subsidy money will be used for the renovation of the Forbidden City.
In addition, as we mentioned earlier, in addition to the daily repair and maintenance, another source of expenditure is the organization of educational activities in the Forbidden City.
In 2018, there were more than 60,000 educational activities in the Forbidden City, including Singapore, Thailand and Australia.
These educational activities are free of charge, the purpose of which is to promote the culture of the Palace Museum, and these costs are borne by the Palace Museum itself, and the source of cost funds is part of the cultural and creative income of the Palace Museum.
Therefore, this is why with an income of more than one billion, the state still needs subsidies, and the daily expenses for the normal operation of the Forbidden City are far greater than we imagined.
But fortunately, whether it is the popularity and influence of the Forbidden City, or the operation of cultural and creative products, it is all developing for the better.
[The Man Behind the Forbidden City - Shan Jixiang]
And when it comes to the current Forbidden City, one person who has to be mentioned is Shan Jixiang, the director of the Palace Museum.
I don't know if you have watched "National Treasure", in the recording of this program, Shan Jixiang is a very important participant, and the national treasure of the Forbidden City "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" and other cultural relics he showed on the program are all amazing.
The broadcast of this episode also added a lot of ratings and was widely praised, and at the same time, it also made the Palace Museum popular, making people refocus on the Forbidden City and have a deeper understanding of its cultural charm.
To a certain extent, Shan Jixiang's appointment was also "ordered to be in danger", because before he became the sixth director of the Palace Museum, the Palace Museum was suffering from a "crisis of confidence".
At that time, the Forbidden City was faced with various problems such as typos of pennants and theft of exhibits, which also led to the gradual decline of the image of this great building in the minds of the public.
Shan Jixiang took office at this time, and the first thing he did after taking office was to spend a full 5 months walking through all the buildings of the Forbidden City to understand the Forbidden City and think about how to let people understand the charm of the Forbidden City.
In order to completely put an end to the huge losses caused by the occurrence of fires to the Forbidden City, one of his reforms for the Forbidden City is to ban smoking, and in order to protect these valuable and even priceless cultural relics, he demanded that all fires be eliminated.
In "I Repair Cultural Relics in the Forbidden City", there is such a scene, the master who repairs cultural relics is addicted to smoking, and he wants to ride a bicycle outside the palace to smoke two puffs and come back.
Therefore, there is a funny scene that these real cultural relics restorers will "scold" the dean while smoking, this rule is equal and no one can violate it.
Including a strict parking order, it is said that in 2013, when French President François Hollande came to China to visit the Forbidden City, he was ready to drive in.
Shan Jixiang was very anxious, but he couldn't manage it so much, so he directly asked people to close the noon gate and stand in front of the door to greet the president's motorcade.
In the end, Hollande visited the Forbidden City on foot, and later the former Prime Minister of India came to visit, and the relevant personnel asked whether this figure was old, and whether he could make an exception and let him visit by car.
And this proposal also made Shan Jixiang refuse, saying that the French president did not let the car when he came, and he should adhere to this system and treat everyone equally, and later received a visit to the former prime minister of India in a battery car, so no matter who it is since then, without exception.
It is precisely because of the director's meticulous persistence that the Forbidden City has been revitalized and revitalized, including the later expansion of the area open to tourists, which is also what Shan Jixiang strives for.
He said that cultural relics can only be safer when people have the right to know, participate and supervise, and in addition to expanding the areas that tourists can visit, he has also begun to vigorously promote buildings that have been covered with historical dust.
Then borrow the power of the media and the Internet to let people know about the Forbidden City, fall in love with the Forbidden City, and then protect the Forbidden City.
From his appointment to his retirement, he devoted almost all his time and energy to the Forbidden City, creating the concept of the Forbidden City's cultural creativity, bringing antiquities back to light, and spreading the culture of the Forbidden City.
Links to previous issues
Japan's Suzuki resolutely refuses to bow to the Chinese market, and after 6 years of withdrawing from China, does it regret it now?
The 3 "weirdest" Buddha statues in the world: 2 in China and the last one in Japan, 121 meters high
The US general frankly said that there are "only three countries" with the strongest military strength in the world, and the others are not worth mentioning at all
Resources:
China Daily - "The Forbidden City's Cultural Protection Budget This Year is 80.58 Million Yuan"
China News Weekly - "Huang Yongyu presented the award to Shan Jixiang and asked an unexpected question"
China.com - "The Forbidden City is Free" is not conducive to the protection of cultural heritage
The Paper - "I Repair Cultural Relics in the Forbidden City" and Other Cases Received Special Fund Support for Online Audiovisual Programs This Year
China Securities Journal - "The Forbidden City's First Exposure to the "Ledger": Cultural and Creative Income of 1.5 Billion, Actually More than 1,500 A-share Companies!"
Beijing Daily client - "More than 10 years of overhaul, 1.29 billion yuan to restore the prosperity of the Forbidden City"
Southern Metropolis Daily - "Where did the Forbidden City's annual income of 1.5 billion yuan be spent? Shan Jixiang: Fans pay, and children around the world benefit"