Museum visitors relish buying creative souvenirs

CHONGQING — China's cultural and tourism sector is experiencing a boom, with museum visitors now able to take tangible pieces of history home. Unsurprisingly, this new trend has been warmly received and is gaining momentum.

During the summer holidays, museums across the country are bustling with activity. Instead of leaving immediately after viewing the exhibits, many visitors conclude their journey by visiting the cultural and creative shops. Here, they select original limited-edition products, often designed based on real cultural relics, to round out their cultural experience.

At the Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum's cultural and creative gallery, visitors are greeted by a range of animal-shaped products that are both charming and unique. These include a bird-shaped pillow and a rabbit-shaped magnet, all inspired by artifacts discovered in the Three Gorges region.

The poem Early Departure from Baidi City by renowned poet Li Bai of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), originally written in today's Chongqing, has been given a modern twist in the form of a book-shaped artifact. The cover displays the poem's title, while one side features full text and the opposite side depicts an illustration of the turbulent waters of the Yangtze River, with boats swiftly sailing through.

The museum and culture craze has also sparked a "cultural and creative wave", leading to the establishment of more and more cultural and creative departments within major Chinese museums, focusing on developing a variety of creative products.

Cultural and creative product planners and operators, recognized as a new profession by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security this year, are tasked with designing products based on market demand and executing marketing operations.