Palace Museum gets cute with fun products

The Palace Museum sells T-shirts with patterns similar to those on the imperial robe in ancient times. [Photo/Tmall.com]

The Palace Museum is making strides to change its solemn and dull image with fun and cute products.

A group of nine flash animations of Emperor Yongzheng (1678-1735) accompanied by fun illustrations have gone viral, attracting more than 800,000 hits since it was launched on Aug 1.

The museum also has plans to create apps such as A Day in the Life of an Emperor and Night Revels of Han Xizai in order to bring the museum and ancient culture closer to today's consumers.

The Palace Museum set up its digital store in 2008, selling souvenirs and products such as T-shirts, salt shakers and luggage tags. Now it has a tech team to bring ancient works to life using digital technology.

The effort aims to reinvent its products to fit the modern market. The products, in the past, such as copies of ancient works, failed to attract the younger generation as they were seen to lack the vitality and fun that they want.