Discovering a visionary product with archaeological blind boxes

Every year, the museum releases more than 200 products. All of them are based on the concept of "beauty and quality" to reflect the lifestyle of the literati in ancient times. Most of the museum's collections are also related to things used by the literati in daily life.

One of the popular products is a series of vase-shaped fridge magnets. The colors are very Chinese-style and the shapes vivid. Although they're small in size, they can really be used — people can put flowers into them by cutting them into the right sizes.

Various sizes of plush toy-style swords are also popular. The swords are designed according to a renowned sword used by Fuchai, king of Wu state in the Spring and Autumn Period about 2,500 years ago. Now it has been made into sword-shaped plush toy-style key chains and bigger-sized stuffed toys.

"We call it the 'fat' sword. The cute appearance draws lots of lovers. They use it to play with their cats or their friends to ease their pressure," says Jiang.

She adds that the sword provides a kind of emotional experience for young people, and it builds up a connection with its users.

"The joyful experience and connection explains their popularity," adds Jiang, estimating that the revenue of museum products will be more than 60 million yuan this year. About five million people come to visit every year.

To cater to young people's appetite, the museum designed a role-playing board game based on the stories of four talented and renowned artists living in Jiangsu province 500 years ago, including painters Tang Yin and Wen Zhengming.

Apart from selling the game, the museum has an exhibition room for people who are interested in the game to play it for free. Jiang says that, on weekends, the room is often booked out and full of children and young people.

"I think museum products in China can be competitive with their counterparts in the West in terms of creativity and variety. And China has the largest industry chain to produce them," she says.

In the future, museum products can extend the concept of "physical things" to include experiences such as dance and performance, says Jiang.

Yang says the future trend of museum products is to break the barrier of space, allowing more cultural relics to reach people's daily lives.

"Only by reaching people's daily lives can these products influence our cultural memory and cultivate our aesthetics and love for our culture," says Yang.