TV program promotes creative takes on relics

A jade dragon is now an incense burner and a china bottle is fridge magnet-these are just some of the examples of around 5,000 cultural and creative products inspired by the historical artifacts collected by the National Museum of China.

"The cultural relics all have long histories, but we want to bring them to the public in a younger, more fashionable and technological way," says Chen Xi, a staff member at the museum.

Chen was presenting Guobo Yanyi, the cultural and creative brand launched by the National Museum of China during the second season of Creative China, a cultural-venture show on Beijing TV.

According to Chen, the National Museum of China has cooperated with Alibaba to create a platform for all of the country's museums in China to connect their intellectual property with investors, designers and manufacturers.

The revival of China's historical relics struck a chord with most judges during the Jan 16 final of Creative China. Guobo Yanyi won the second season's finals.

Hao Jingbo, general director of the show, says the National Museum of China's winning project shows people's love of Chinese culture.

Ten projects make it to the final, with half of them focusing on traditional culture, such as the "3.0 version" of Along the River During the Qingming Festival, which is a hightech interactive art show that recreates Zhang Zeduan's painting from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) using a four-dimensional dome screen.

Created by the Palace Museum and Phoenix Digital Technology, the project invited more than 30 top artists to work on the painting, which includes 814 figures, 28 boats and more than 170 trees. It was exhibited at the Palace Museum between May and the end of last year.

Other finalists include astronautical cultural and creative products, Tea World and Five-Dimension Memory, an art show combining 27 intangible cultural heritage art forms and their derivatives.

"Each project has its own director, who seems to fall in love with the projects and feel like they have become partners," says Hao.

Yao Jinbo, CEO and founder of 58.com, and Zhejiang Television's star entertainment anchor, Hua Shao, lead two teams-each recommending 20 projects that will compete.

"It's a new combination. We hoped Yao would offer more business advice and Hua would judge from a cultural angle. Unexpectedly, the duo brought sparks to the show," says Hao.

Yao's dry humor and recommendation of certain projects seem to bring out his softer side. The culture vulture, Hua, who is an entrepreneur, also doles out business advice.

Most of the projects in the second season have already proved successful. Hao aims to not only present Chinese culture but also show that traditional culture can be a money spinner.

"One reason knowledge of traditional culture is in decline is that the younger generation thinks it is not profitable, so they are reluctant to inherit it as a vocation," says Hao.

"We want to provide both the industry and the audience with new ideas about how to protect those traditions and also make a profit.

"We are actually taking the role of translator for the projects. One aspect is to translate the culture into a show on the stage. The other is to interpret the business model into the simplest words so audiences understand," Hao explains.

Hao and her team began their search for new projects for Season 2 in February last year. What impressed her was the boom in the development of cultural and creative industries in China during the past year.

"When we were selecting the projects for Season 2, there were many more projects that wowed me than in the previous season. And the focus of the projects were much more diverse, especially those centered on traditional culture," she says.