During this year’s Qingming Festival holiday, the Liaoning Provincial Museum became a hot destination, drawing tourists from across China with its deep historical roots and high-quality public services. From April 4 to 6, the museum recorded a total of 181,900 visits across its online and offline platforms, with 62,000 visits to the museum in person. Notably, 64.7% of the visits were from outside Liaoning province, with the top five sources being Heilongjiang, Jilin, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, and Shandong.
The Liaoning Provincial Museum continues to breathe new life into its collections by leveraging digital technology to extend the boundaries of exhibitions. This holiday, the museum launched several exhibitions that balanced academic depth with artistic excellence. The exhibition Galloping Hooves: Chinese Zodiac Artifacts Exhibition for the Bingwu Year of the Horse showcased horse-themed artifacts and imagery, embodying a spirit of progress and vitality. Songs of Seasonal Joy in Chinese New Year Prints vividly recreated folk scenes of traditional Chinese festivals, evoking nostalgic memories of ancestral customs. Meanwhile, Eastern Metropolis Mirrored in the Liang River employed mural copies and excavated artifacts to unveil the historical landscape of cultural development in the Liaoning region from the Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin dynasties. Additionally, the “Tang and Song Splendor” digital exhibition hall and large-space VR interactive theater allowed visitors to “step into” the realm of ancient masterpieces through cutting-edge technology.
During the holiday, the museum’s extended opening hours, arranged to meet the cultural demands of the public, received an overwhelmingly positive response once again. The popular “Botan Yaji” (Museum Salon) series launched a nighttime special titled “Spring Shadows in the Cup: Seeking the Charm of Liao Ceramics”, creating a serene and poetic cultural atmosphere. Another highlight was the “Spring Qingming Night: DIY Paper Kite Fridge Magnet” nighttime workshop, where participants handcrafted their own souvenirs by combining the traditional custom of flying kites during the Qingming Festival with the aesthetics of modern life.
The museum also rolled out a variety of public welfare activities, such as the “Meet National Treasures” parent-child activity—a blend of volunteer-led tours and “treasure hunts” in the museum. The “Liaoning Provincial Museum Star* Academy” encouraged visitors to “check-in” by photographing specific artifacts to earn rewards, while the Children’s Experience Hall hosted themed events like “Traditional Chinese Clothing Time Machine” and “Little Heroes of the Beacon Fire”. These edutainment initiatives allowed visitors to slow down, and truly understand the historical and cultural backgrounds, successfully bridging cultural offerings and the public’s requirements.
In the museum’s Multi-Function Hall, the children’s play Time Travel: An Adventure with the Liaoning Provincial Museum Treasures became a popular choice among many children audiences. The play “personified” exquisite artifacts in the museum’s collection through song, dance, and interactive Q&A, creating a lively atmosphere of the scene, and allowing children to learn about the knowledge and value behind the cultural relics while having fun.
The museum’s creative and cultural stores and dining areas also saw a surge in sales. From “Radiant Spring Outing” faux mother-of-pearl inlay fridge magnets to adorable “Jade Pig-Shaped Dragon steamed buns”, the creation of the “Liaoning Provincial Museum Handmade” experiential space and the popularity of cultural relic IP-themed meals reflect the underlying logic of the integration of culture and tourism. In China, museums are emerging as a pivotal growth engine for the cultural tourism market, as the development of high-quality cultural and creative products is injecting fresh vitality into the local cultural and tourism economy.
