Exchanges for mutual development

Chinese and foreign museums have been forging exchanges to facilitate dialogue between civilizations and foster people's understanding of and engagement with cultures that interest them.

The British Museum opened an online souvenir store on Alibaba's Tmall shopping platform in July 2018. In more than a year, the shop has accumulated more than 1.04 million followers.

Items that online buyers snap up integrate elements of the artefacts into daily objects, such as mugs in the shape of the Gayer-Anderson Cat, one of the best-loved items in the museum's collection, and silk scarves with patterns from Italian majolica plates.

The British Museum has inked a deal last December with Tmall to expand their partnership beyond sales to include marketing, localized content and product licensing for three years.

An important mission of the museum is sharing the exhibits with the rest of the world, said British Museum Chairman Richard Lambert, adding that the collaborative project brings them closer to Chinese people.

Chinese museums have inked deals with their counterparts in such countries as Australia, Russia and Greece to enhance cooperation in the exhibition, protection and scientific research of cultural relics.

The Acropolis Museum in Athens, for instance, has established partnerships with the Shanghai Museum and the Palace Museum for exhibitions and art workshops.

Dimitrios Pandermalis, president of the Acropolis Museum, said the collaboration between the Acropolis Museum and Palace Museum is excellent and fruitful, adding that such synergies bring the two cultures closer and broaden Sino-Greek ties.

The dialogue between the two cultures can continue, said Pandermalis, adding that both sides can share their experience in many more fields of expertise.

"I think a chapter (that is) very interesting is conservation," he said. "We can exchange experience."