Museums are popular but ease of entry is history

The five-story Changsha Museum received more than 30,000 visitors from Jan 24 to 27, the highest it has been in three years.

Zhang says that one third of their visitors were people under 18. They curated a series of interactive activities and invited children to take part in arts and crafts, such as teaching them Spring Festival woodblock printing and showing them how to repair relics.

Wang Jingzhi went to the Changsha Museum with her 7-year-old daughter on Jan 25. They were attracted by a folk art show and an exhibition focusing on Zodiac animal-related relics.

Her daughter spent several hours collecting the stamps of seals provided at the various halls in her notebook. "It was our first time visiting the museum at Spring Festival," says Wang. "I didn't know that there were so many interesting activities at museums. It's much more attractive than going to a shopping mall."

The mother says that she did some research online to find a suitable place to go with her child during the Spring Festival holiday and was finally attracted by a recommendation for the museum on Xiaohongshu, a popular lifestyle social media platform.

"Many museums use social media to promote their shows. It's a good way to reach a wider audience. If I didn't see the promotion, I wouldn't have come," says Wang.