Museums cash in on the past

"The success of the Palace Museum helped to propel the development of creative cultural products, with more museums riding the wave in recent years," Liu says.

He recalls that when he first entered the industry over a decade ago, it was hard to explain to others the definition of such products, let alone their benefits. Whereas, today, without additional explanation, almost everyone knows.

"Consumers prefer well-designed and finely-made products," Liu adds. "They used to pay for the added value of such products, but now they're more likely to look at the performance-price ratio."

Liu notes that some museums have embarked on crossover cooperations, often with the fast-moving consumer goods industry, to unveil specially-designed creative cultural products, ranging from cosmetics to snacks and clothes.

"It's a mutually beneficial business," Liu says. "For enterprises, their brands already have influence in the market and will have added value due to the cultural element brought by the museums, while the museums will benefit from the sales and marketing strength of these brands to sell their products quickly."