China News Service, Hangzhou, February 19 (Tong Xiaoyu) This year’s Spring Festival, cultural and museum tourism is heating up again. On February 18, reporters learned from the Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau that during the eight-day Spring Festival, the number of visitors to the Zhejiang Provincial Registered Museum exceeded 3.5 million. In major museums, cultural creativity has become the new favorite, setting off a cultural consumption boom in the New Year.
In recent years, celebrating the New Year in a museum has become a new custom. During the Spring Festival, Zhejiang's state-owned museums launched more than 160 exhibitions, as well as more than 500 experience activities such as intangible cultural heritage handicraft experiences and the New Year's Fair to welcome Chenlong, attracting people to visit.
According to data from the Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, during the eight days of the Spring Festival, the number of visitors to registered museums in Zhejiang Province reached 3.53999 million. Among them, the number of visitors to museums in Ningbo, Hangzhou and Shaoxing exceeded 550,000, ranking the top three in Zhejiang.
This Spring Festival, the Zhejiang Provincial Museum presents a cultural feast to the public, with exhibitions such as "A Grand View - Special Exhibition of the Treasures of the Provincial Top 100 Museums (Second Period)" and "Elegance of the Song Dynasty - The New Year of the Song Dynasty" Popular among the audience, a series of activities such as the woodblock New Year picture printing experience and the "Zhebo Treasure Hunt" study and research program brought a strong flavor of the New Year to the public.
The scene of "A Grand View—Special Exhibition of Treasures from the Top 100 Museums in the Province (Second Phase)". Photo courtesy of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau
During the Spring Festival, the Zhejiang Provincial Museum received 194,800 visitors, nearly 70% of whom were tourists from outside the province. The number of tourists has tripled compared with 2022. Ningbo Tianyige Museum, which focuses on the library and features book collection culture, had an influx of 91,000 people during the Spring Festival.
During the Spring Festival, an opera performance was held at Tianyige Museum. Photo courtesy of Tianyige Museum
In addition to viewing and experiencing the exhibition, the reporter found that the number of tourists in the cultural and creative area of the museum is comparable to that in the exhibition hall. The cultural and creative products from the museum have opened up new ideas for many tourists to choose New Year goods.
In the Deoksugung Palace Museum of the Southern Song Dynasty, a Ruyilong handbag with a hairpin on its head has become a "favorite" among young people, and the "Fish Leaping into Dragon" stationery gift box has been "swept away" by visiting parents; in Liang At the Zhu Museum, the Liangzhu Cultural and Creative Year of the Dragon zodiac gift box features dragon head pattern lacquer beads and perfume and aromatherapy with the scent of Liangzhu plants, attracting a large number of young tourists.
Why has celebrating Chinese New Year in a museum become a New Year custom? Why do cultural New Year goods in museums attract fans?
Yan Hongming, director of the Zhejiang Natural Museum, believes that this reflects the change in people's leisure and consumption concepts. They have shifted from viewing mountains, water, and scenery to in-depth cultural experiences. Museums have increasingly become a necessity for people's cultural life.
Another reason may be that cultural consumption accounts for an increasing proportion of people's daily consumption. Shen Aiguo, dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Zhejiang University, said that today’s cultural and creative industries are increasingly able to meet the cultural needs of young consumer groups. Cultural and creative products can be purchased everywhere, but when the consumption scene is transferred to a museum, it can enrich people's sense of ritual and experience.
Some people in the industry believe that this is a cultural "root-seeking" behavior that occurs when economic and social development reaches a certain level. While visiting exhibitions, experiencing, and purchasing cultural and creative products, people's cultural belonging psychology will be satisfied and cultural confidence will be enhanced. (over)