Virtual visits reveal museums' magic

Chinese confined to their homes amid the outbreak have been exploring museums around the globe as virtual tours have grown in popularity during the epidemic.

They can use their phones to enjoy a range of activities whenever they wish, such as viewing photos and videos of relics, touring virtual exhibitions online, watching experts' livestreams, buying special cultural products, taking quizzes and exchanging views with others on social platforms.

Sina Weibo recently concluded its one-month activity, A Virtual Trip to Museums. Over 100 museums from home and abroad participated, and 17 offered prizes for guessing games.

Online influencers have shared their knowledge of museums and made recommendations. Numerous netizens have joined the discussions.

The activity has generated nearly 400 million views, with more than 7,000 original posts from museums, media accounts and netizens on Sina Weibo.

It has promoted museum appreciation among the public, enriched people's quarantines and working-from-home conditions, and inspired potential museum visitors.

Yuan Tai, an online influencer in the field of history, has been posting photos and introductions about museum exhibits on her Sina Weibo account, which has over 3.72 million followers.

"It's about using the advantages of the internet and microbloggers' expertise in their fields to reshape netizens' understandings of cultural artifacts and museums," Yuan says.

"You can put photos about different museums' exhibits with the same theme or from the same dynasty in one post for detailed comparisons. It tests a microblogger's expertise because you need to have your own thoughts, and these posts are very popular."

She takes as an example the ancient Shu state that existed roughly 2,600 to 4,800 years ago, with its last capital in today's Chengdu, Sichuan province.

She says one can put photos about cultural relics from Sanxingdui Museum and Jinsha Site Museum together in one post, enabling netizens to more comprehensively understand the state's great civilization.

"When you visit a brick-and-mortar museum, you can see the real cultural artifacts but can only observe them from a distance, since they're often in glass display cases. Now, you can view them more clearly via online photos and enjoy their beauty when you're confined to your house," she says.

She says the introductions on museums' nameplates are often simple. Online posts can elucidate the incredible stories behind the displays.

"During the epidemic, I take the time to sort out numerous photos that I've taken in museums at home and abroad, reminding me of the pleasant memories of my previous trips. I also learned about other museums through social media posts," says Su Su, a travel influencer with more than 11.8 million followers on Sina Weibo.

Her most popular museum photos were of the world-celebrated destinations like the Louvre in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and some niche museums.

"Virtual museum tours nourish the mind and ease pressure, especially for people in regions where the epidemic has had a greater impact," says Mao Yan, deputy curator of Suzhou Museum in Jiangsu province.

"We've done a lot of work to digitalize our exhibits in recent years, making it easier for us to hold virtual exhibitions online. Audiences can also play games, such as doing jigsaw puzzles of famous paintings on their smartphones."

She says the virtual-travel activity has encouraged the museum to put more effort into livestreams to appeal to youth. The latest plan is to regularly livestream on the video-sharing platform Bilibili to promote the museum from various aspects and to continue after the epidemic.

Audiences can witness scenes in livestreams that they can rarely see on actual trips to Suzhou Museum.

They can watch professional interpretations of curators and interviews with experts, such as those who repair ancient books or paintings, to know about museums' inner workings.

"The virtual-travel activity has helped Sichuan Museum to build its image, strengthen its communication with the public and arouse curiosity about the museum," says Zhang Heng, who's in charge of marketing of the museum in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

He says the online interactions have attracted new fans, some of whom are outside the province. Many comment that they want to actually visit the museum in the future.

"When the museum was closed, its inner operations and management continued with more procedures like increased disinfection and staff temperature checks," he says.

A magnitude-5.1 earthquake struck Chengdu in early February, and the museum's staff checked that all the relics and storehouses were safe and later announced it online.

Suzhou Museum and Chengdu Museum are among the many museums that have reopened since last week as the epidemic situation improves.

Suzhou Museum's visitors must present ID cards and health QR codes.

A robot checks their temperatures at the entrance, and another robot inside supervises tourist flows in real time to restrict the number to no more than 200.

It has trained staff, improved the booking system to limit daily visits, improved hygiene and disinfection and performed an emergency drill, Mao says.

Zhang from Sichuan Museum agrees that it's essential to restrict daily visits to lower infection risks. Staff members explain this to on-site guests and promote prevention education.

Sichuan Museum is hosting two temporary exhibitions. One shows 134 artifacts from the Italian Archaeological Park of Paestum that presents the ancient Greek period's culture. The other displays over 200 relics that Chengdu Customs has recovered from smuggling rings in recent years.

Zhang says tourists become interested in the exhibitions after learning about them online before visiting, so the museum decided to extend the shows until May 10.