The forced closure of Chinese institutions in late January accelerated a digital move to engage better with Millennials and Gen-Zers. For example, the Terracotta Army in the Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum gave life to creations of the unified China’s first emperor with gamified WeChat Mini Program, which is essentially a non-downloadable app that runs inside WeChat.
JT spoke to Wang Xuesong, Director of YAH Lab at Hylink, the creative digital agency behind the Mini Program, to understand the initiative as well as the broader push of Chinese cultural organizations to reach younger audiences.
Wang Xuesong said that focusing on young people has the power to attract other generations, and that is why they are important to Chinese museums. The first objective of the museums should never be to make money, but rather, to provide an understanding of cultural identity by creating content that inspires genuine connections with young people.
Methods should vary from playing with trending popular culture to using new technology and media to revive historical objects. Concerning the Terracotta Army case, in order to revisit and reimagine Qin dynasty culture, we restored the Terracotta Warriors using digital technology of a WeChat Mini Program and brought them back to life to create an experience through which young people can look back at the past and discover things new and unexpected. The WeChat Mini Program uses mystery eggs [taken from the idea of Easter Eggs], comets [connecting to Qin dynasty astrological expertise], and mythological creatures to inspire young audiences and to tell the story of culture. Finally, Wang Xuesong said that in the long-term, the important thing is to change the approach in thinking of the pblic needs and changing perceptions, and with deep, creative thinking, someday we will find that the old can be cool.
Link to the original article:
https://jingculturecommerce.com/how-can-chinese-museums-attract-younger-audiences/
(Part 1 of 2)
