From cups, notebooks, keychains, to archeology blind boxes, digital collections, original cartoons, stage performances, and other derivative forms... In recent years, numerous museums in Beijing have relied on their collections to develop various cultural and creative products. While promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture, these products also satisfy people's high-quality cultural consumption needs. Let's check out these creative and trendy cultural and creative products in museums together!

Cultural and Creative Products in The Palace Museum

The Palace Museum, established in 1925, is a source of pride for the Chinese nation and a precious cultural heritage for all humanity. Today, the former imperial palace grounds serve as both a vast treasure trove of Ming and Qing dynasty royal treasures and a vivid archive of court history. While the Forbidden City is never short of stories, the Palace Museum's cultural and creative center is much younger but still firmly rooted in traditional Chinese culture.

While excavating and integrating content, the Palace Museum's cultural and creative center combines historical cultural symbols with contemporary aesthetic contexts, extracting cultural symbols that can attract consumers' attention. And then these symbols are combined with product usage scenarios to create suitable products through creative means.

For example, the cultural and creative center has launched two lipsticks whose design elements are drawn from the museum's collection of cultural relics, namely the "Luohan Bed of Black Lacquer Bed Inlaid with Mother of Pearl, Flowers and Birds" and the "Red Lacquer Edged Screen with Embroidered Landscape along with Pine Trees and Cranes". The lipsticks shades are also inspired by the colors of porcelain in the collection or objects with Palace Museum elements, such as "Palace Wall Red", "Carmine", and "Mei Ren Ji", which is inspired by a Kangxi-era red bean glaze.

In the past, shops in the Palace Museum only sold carved fans, Chinese gold fingernail guard, and peony silk fabrics. Today, the cultural and creative center there offers a wide range of popular products, including bookmarks, fridge magnets, figurines, bags, necklaces, lipsticks, calendars, as well as notepads. These practical and diverse products have transformed Palace Museum culture into essential items in consumers' daily lives, turning unearthed relics displayed in exhibition cases into friendly and approachable images.

Cultural and Creative Products in National Museum of China

The roots of the National Museum of China (NMC) can be traced back to 1912. Over the past 110 years, it has made significant progress in collection research, exhibition display, social education, audience services, and international exchanges. Meanwhile, the development of cultural and creative products has brought traditional culture back to the public through contemporary designs, consolidating the public's sense of cultural identity and enhancing their cultural confidence.

The cultural and creative products of NMC have achieved fruitful results. The innovative feature of the lollipop series is the incorporation of bone conduction chips into traditional lollipops. When you put candy in your mouth, the sound of the historical relics' explanation is transmitted to the eardrum through teeth and bones, providing a magical experience for both taste and hearing. The candy's pattern is inspired by the Qianlong Pastel Daji Gourd Vase, representing a longing for a beautiful life.

The design of the Chinese-style washi tape originates from the Pastel Vase with Pattern of Apricot Blossom and Swallow. As for its design style, flat illustrations are used to depict elements such as swallows, bamboo, and apricot flowers, with fresh and elegant colors that are very engaging. The design inspiration for the 24 solar term bookmarks comes from the elements of the four seasons and cultural relics from various dynasties. These products not only reflect the attributes of solar terms but also introduce the cultural relics of each dynasty, allowing readers to appreciate the beauty of tradition in their leisure time during their reading.

Cultural and Creative Products in Beijing Eight Imperial Handicrafts Museum

The Beijing Eight Imperial Handicrafts Museum is located in Cheng'en Temple in Shijingshan District. In July 2021, with the official opening of this museum, hundreds of heirloom crafts that condense the craftsmanship and skills of artisans were opened to the public, shining together with the royal ancient temple.

Based on the characteristic of this museum, a variety of exquisite tourism products were developed, such as carved lacquer jewelry boxes, carved lacquer cups, gold-lacquered inlay series products, and cultural and creative bookmarks and sticky notes, combining high-quality regional tourism resources to provide visitors with a multi-type shopping space.

The lid of the carved lacquer jewelry box was made by using modern innovative carved lacquerware technique, with exquisite patterns, lustrous colors, and elegant shapes. The box body is made of beechwood as this kind of wood has a higher hardness than most woods and can be used for a long time. The pattern is "Hua Kai Fu Gui (Flower Blooming with Prosperity)", one of the traditional auspicious patterns in China, representing happiness, wealth, and nobility.

The meticulous and colorful mural has been printed on the paper to make the Cheng'en Fang Sheng Mural Sticky Notes, allowing visitors to feel the history of the Cheng'en Temple mural that has lasted for more than 500 years. Although the sticky note pad is small, it reflects details everywhere. The cleverly conceived picture and the vivid figures come alive on the paper.

The ice and snow watch has been made by using the innovative technology of mother-of-pearl flat grinding, which is from the gold-lacquer inlay, an intangible cultural heritage. The precision instrument can better reflect the ingenious design. The snowflakes on it are the main pattern, and are matched with auspicious clouds, treasure flower, and twining lotus, presenting the spiritual image of ice and snow and auspiciousness.

Cultural and Creative Products in the Confucian Temple and Imperial College Museum

The Confucian Temple and the Imperial College are located on the northeast side of the Bell and Drum Towers in the northern section of Beijing's central axis. They were built in the Yuan Dynasty and served as the emperor's place of worship for Confucius and the highest central institution of learning and educational administration, representing the real carriers of the imperial college education and the imperial examination system. The Confucian Temple and Imperial College Museum were established in June 2008 to mainly protect and utilize the Confucian Temple and the Imperial College, carry out research on Confucius and the imperial examination system, and develop cultural and creative products.

The glazed archway of the Imperial College is an important symbol of the emphasis on culture and education in ancient China. The modern 3D and digital technology have been used in making the blind box series of the glazed archway, in order to create and render designs based on the main architectural elements, presenting the beauty of traditional Chinese architecture through scenes of the four seasons.

The Yu Yue Long Men (carp jumping over the dragon's gate, a cultural symbol of courage, perseverance, and accomplishment in China) series includes cultural and creative products such as rulers, porcelain, and tea cup sets. Yu Yue Long Men is a classic mythological legend in China. When a carp jumps over the dragon gate on the Yellow River, it turns into a dragon, symbolizing success in career or promotion. This series of cultural and creative products not only demonstrates exquisite workmanship but also profound meaning, echoing the "knowledge changes fate" that is represented by the ancient Confucian Temple and Imperial College in China.