Decoding ancient times

A netizen who goes by the name "Xiajingxi" on China's popular entertainment review site, Douban, writes that Yuan's commentary－both impressive and amusing－triggered her interest in the liberal arts. Yuan brings out in the open the knowledge stored inside museums, says another Zhihu user.

Yuan chose to be a museum guide out of interest even though he graduated with a computer major in 2011. He still remembers the moment that year, when he received a call from the National Museum of China to tell him that he had been recruited. "It was a time when my life changed."

He started to inject scientific knowledge into his commentary when he tried to memorize the original commentary provided by the museum. But it was not recognized by many people at first. Then his commenting style started to attract more listeners and won the support of the museum administration.

In 2016, he began to write articles on Zhihu and gained further popularity. In 2017, he made an online video, in which he spoke of the evolution of human beings. He has also been invited to take part in some TV programs and his first book has been published recently.

Speaking about how to prepare for his job, Yuan says he reads a lot of books, listens to lectures and consults experts so as to gain information on topics, then he tends to deliver what impresses him the most. He pays a lot of attention to the source of information to ensure reliability, he adds.

"I choose information that is written by experts in professional literature or books. And when using it, I tell people who wrote it and where I found it," says Yuan.

"Sometimes when a topic is controversial, I try to present all mainstream opinions on it－and people can choose which one they would like to believe."

Although Yuan may do more things in the future, he views himself mainly as a commentator.

"I would like to continue as someone who spreads culture to the general public," he says. "I transform abstruse academic studies to relatively demotic knowledge."

Contact the writer at wangru1@chinadaily.com.cn