‘Adorkable’ mascots a hit for Forbidden City
Print Edition
THE Palace Museum in Beijing, the erstwhile home of 24 Chinese emperors over 600 years, this week opened its doors to two new residents.
In its latest effort to attract younger crowds, the museum, more commonly known as the Forbidden City, unveiled its two latest mascots — a joyful male dragon named Zhuangzhuang and a proud female phoenix named Meimei.
The pair debuted at the 2014 Museum Products and Technology Expo in Xiamen, southeast China’s Fujian Province, on Sunday and have been well received.
“We are delighted to see that many people find the dragon-phoenix mascots ‘adorkable,” said Shan Jixiang, museum curator, using a trendy Chinese phrase to describe the mascots’ dorky but adorable appearance.
“We are excited to promote our museum in a way the general public finds easier to accept.”
The unveiling of the mascots was part of a push to develop a creative industry based around traditional culture.
The museum was built out of the Forbidden City in 1925. It was home to the country’s royal families from 1420 to 1911, when the Qing Dynasty was overthrown by the revolution led by Sun Yat-Sen. It is the largest ancient royal residence under protection in China.
By the end of August, the museum had unveiled 6,754 new products. Prior to the latest effort “replicas of valuable collections and books are basically all you could find,” Shan said.
Donning Qing Dynasty imperial costumes and wearing cute facial expressions, the mascots quickly went viral on the Internet.
Other popular products include stereo earphones made of beads and jewels resembling the jeweled chains around the neck of the Empress Dowager Cixi and hoodies typical of the imperial family.
The ‘adorkable’ gadgets helped the 600-year-old Forbidden City, with a reputation of being conservative and remote, project a more friendly face.
“We tried to popularize the history around the Forbidden City by way of learning the interests of the audience and creating interesting products with cultural meaning,” said Shan.
At the expo in Xiamen, Patricia Rodewald, former director of Education at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta in the United States, applauded the efforts.
“Great collections won’t have the best effect unless the stories behind them are told in a way visitors enjoy,” she said.
Rodewald also suggested that her Chinese counterparts focus on visitors instead of trying to attract crowds based solely on large collections.
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