When Palace Museum meets creativity

A screen capture from the app The Night Revel of Han Xizai. [Photo/Agencies]

Name: Li Qiong

Product: The Night Revel of Han Xizai

To Li Qiong, the mastermind behind the app The Night Revel of Han Xizai, "light" is a demanding term, for it takes a heavy workload to create something that's light and interesting.

"Interactive media only changed the channel the audience uses to learn history. It does not cut down on the effort on digging deep into facts and organizing information."

In the app The Night Revel of Han Xizai, a well-known painting created by Gu Hongzhong during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) is introduced to the fullest. The descriptions of characters, furniture, artifacts and historical background are included with footnotes, a vast volume totaling more than 20,000 Chinese characters. Further details on the protagonist, aristocrat Han Xizai of the Tang Dynasty, are also provided. Furthermore, different versions of the painting, the legends surrounding the painting, details on its preservation, protection and exhibition at the Palace Museum are also mentioned.

"The information volume is huge, and we tried to divide and organize them into layers and showcase them through multimedia, including audio files," Li said.

The biggest selling point of this app lies in user interaction. Upon its first touch, the screen lights up dimly, as a light from a candle would do so at night. The user can slide across the screen for a virtual experience of what Han experienced that night. With another touch, characters in the painting come to life, as concubines start to perform music and dancers start to dance.

"On the basis of passing information accurately and thoroughly, we worked recreating the message of the original painting through this app," Li added.

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