Museums emerge as hot holiday spots for younger generations

TAIYUAN — Visiting museums has become a new holiday trend among young Chinese people, as more travelers took the road less traveled during the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday earlier this month to enjoy culture and history rather than overcrowded tourist spots.

Ahead of the "super golden week", online tickets for popular museums, such as the National Museum of China and the Palace Museum in Beijing, and the Shanxi Museum in the northern province of Shanxi, sold out quickly.

"I feel lucky to have secured a ticket for the National Day," says a visitor surnamed Wang in her early 30s from Fuzhou, Fujian province, who visited the Shanxi Museum.

For many young visitors, museums offer not only a cultural enrichment journey but also a peaceful and therapeutic retreat from the holiday bustle.

"I like to come here for a walk when I feel stressed," says another 30-year-old museum visitor also surnamed Wang. The internet company employee visited Jinci Museum in Shanxi's provincial capital Taiyuan. "Gazing at these millennia-old buildings and reflecting on how ancient people created such marvels with so little help puts my own troubles into perspective."

Some visitors make their museum visits more entertaining and personal by creating humorous memes based on artifacts in the museums and purchasing creative cultural products from the museum shops.