Cultural relics on your screen

Xi'an Beilin Museum in Shaanxi province is home for more than 10,000 precious stone-carved cultural relics throughout Chinese history.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Holding an iPad to kick off his "tour on cloud" for Taobao's users, Bai found that his concerns were unwarranted when his debut was warmly welcomed.

"Why was calligrapher Liu Gongquan (778-865) the one person in China who feared the death of others the most?" he posited before answering his question during the livestream. "Well, because every time a noble or a high official died, he was invited to write an epitaph."

Following his informative introduction of key collections in the museum, plus vividly told stories and jokes surrounding the calligraphy masterpieces, the comment section of his show was inundated with questions, encouragement and "thumbs-up".

Unexpectedly, about 400,000 people tuned in that night, many of whom offered messages of support and promises that they would visit the museum after the epidemic.

"I could never have imagined so many people would be interested in this topic, particularly when their overwhelming concern is for the epidemic," Bai says.

Despite being a biology major in college, Bai chose to follow his personal interest when looking for a career. He spent two years in Xi'an after graduation attempting to write online historical novels, but his work didn't sell well.

"I prefer not to mention their titles," he laughs. "That's why I wanted to find another way of using my interest in history and literature to benefit people."

Online fame has finally found him, albeit almost a decade later.

"I don't expect to become an online celebrity," he says. "Nothing is better than turning your interest into a job and sticking to it for a long time."

His role as an online livestream host seems to have taken strides beyond a "one-time only" trial. Since that first episode, he has hosted three more Taobao talk shows introducing stone cultural relics at the museum.

"Maybe I'd better prepare an outline for follow-up lectures," Bai says. "I'm not sure whether I can continuously find enough to talk about."

The epidemic has led to the shutting of museums nationwide, but people still want to know about culture. Xi'an Beilin Museum is one of eight museums in China that took to Taobao to offer livestreaming tours on Feb 23.

For example, Suzhou Museum in Jiangsu province, chose to start its broadcast at noon to make full use of the sunlight to show off its architecture, designed by the late I.M.Pei.

Additionally, the Mogao Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Dunhuang, Gansu province, introduced the restoration of on-site frescoes at 6 pm.

That was followed by Liangzhu Museum in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, at 7 pm, which saw two narrators walk through galleries introducing highlighted cultural relics.

The Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu, which date back to 5,300 years ago and was home to an ancient jade-worshipping civilization, is also a World Heritage site.

About 40 Chinese museums have opened shops on Taobao, selling souvenirs and other products, and for some it is their first foray into the digital realm.

Zhang Yun, deputy director of Xi'an Beilin Museum, admits that, compared with national-level museums, smaller institutions like hers rarely have enough resources to diligently operate digital platforms. After all, receiving over 700,000 visits a year is already a challenge.

When Taobao first contacted the museum about the possibility of operating a streaming activity during the closure, Zhang was reluctant.

"Frankly speaking, we worried whether it would go to the wrong direction of becoming overwhelmingly commercial," she says. "However, it also seemed to be a new opportunity to promote cultural relics as well. As such, we established a bottom line: the broadcast is mainly to focus on introducing our key collections rather than selling souvenirs."

The unexpected success of the broadcasts has helped to change her outlook.

"This new format can break down geographical barriers," she says. "We realize that such digital channels will get more people to appreciate traditional culture."