Museums join online marketplace

"When people's income reaches a certain level, the art and culture industry will witness a boom," He said, adding that this point has already been reached in China.

Consumers' desire for the British Museum's products is just the tip of the iceberg for China's prosperous museum-related creative and cultural industry.

The past two years have seen the rising popularity of designer products based on cultural references as well as an increasing number of cultural institutions entering this market in China.

In 2016, four ministries, including the then Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance, issued a regulation to support museums in developing their collections to sell gifts and souvenirs.

According to the Ministry of Culture, as of last year about 2,500 museums and cultural institutions had begun to design and produce merchandise.

When Qiu Tong introduced her team's designs based on the Summer Palace - the imperial garden in Beijing listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1998 - to many brands and e-commerce platforms last year, her targeted consumers were surprised. This was because they still had the impression that the Summer Palace only had an on-site store offering low-priced and poor-quality souvenirs.

Qiu set up China Cultural Tourism and Creativity, a company in Beijing, last year to help museums and cultural institutions design and promote brands and products. Her team of about 50 is dedicated to cooperating with the Summer Palace, a must-see destination for travelers to Beijing.

The palace, overlooked by mountains and boasting lakes and traditional architecture, is regarded as a masterpiece of Chinese garden design. It was built by the Qianlong Emperor during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to celebrate the 60th birthday of his mother.

"It's common to associate the Summer Palace with the Forbidden City, since both are related to royal families. However, if you look into its history, the Summer Palace is more about females. That's the basis on which we design its products, which are more oriented toward women," Qiu said.