The opening ceremony of "Cultural and Creative Week," part of the themed campaign of Beijing Museum Month, is held at National Natural History Museum of China in Beijing on Saturday. Photo: Courtesy of Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau

Part of the themed campaign of Beijing Museum Month, "Cultural and Creative Week" starts from Saturday to May 31, offering the city's cultural and creative products along with a slew of activities. This week, visitors can explore enriched content in various showcases and displays. They can experience the museums and take their favorite cultural and creative products home. 

In the six museum venues, a competition and six markets showcasing cultural and creative products are rolled out during the week. The opening ceremony was held at National Natural History Museum of China on Saturday. 

To make study more enjoyable, the "Cultural and Creative Week" is offering a number of activities in diversified spaces, allowing museums in Beijing to become involved, including the Beijing Art Museum, the China Railway Museum and the Beijing White Pagoda Temple. 

Song Haojie, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau, addresses the opening ceremony of "Cultural and Creative Week," held at National Natural History Museum of China in Beijing on Saturday. Photo: Courtesy of Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau

Song Haojie, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau, told the Global Times that through building Beijing into a city of museums, each museum has been encouraged to use this important opportunity to comprehensively improve the protection and utilization of cultural relics and the protection and inheritance of cultural heritage. 

"The city is developing a landscape of cultural and creative by optimizing the market-oriented development path of cultural relics IP and in-depth excavation of the value of cultural relics and cultural heritage," Song said. 

At the launch ceremony, the Beijing Central Axis Digital Human Project, which integrates heritage protection, tourism services and publicity, was released. Leveraging virtual digital human technology, the project is expected to create interactive channels for cultural communication and become a new medium for the dissemination of cultural heritage.

The 2024 Cultural and Creative Competition has been successfully held for six consecutive years. This year's session has reviewed the outstanding achievements gained in 2023 and has an outlook to upcoming activities. 

The competition will further stimulate the creative ideas for cultural and creative designs. It will focus on museum cultural and creative derivatives, cultural and creative presentation, 24 solar terms creativity and innovative application of traditional Chinese medicine. The competition aims to promote a new wave of public interest in museum cultural creative products.

Visitors check out products at a market showcasing cultural and creative products in Beijing on on Saturday. Photo: Courtesy of Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau

A number of must-see museums are opening up their best options to visitors. New products are on display for consumers in a unified sales platform. The markets are shaping up new experience for consumers in the capital city. 

Bao Tianmao, volunteer guide and narrator for the National Natural History Museum of China, told the Global Times that he has seen more visitor volumes in recent weeks. 

"This museum has developed new functions as a huge classroom for visitors, where they are organized to check in with a dedicated narrator. They can learn knowledge here in their own group," said Bao. 

Hosted by Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau, the markets also provide options of gifts from Beijing, municipal park cultural creativity and branded cultural creativity of guochao, also known as Chinese trends or "China chic." From silk scarfs to fridge magnets to candles with different scents, shoppers have many options that tie into their daily lives. 

Visitors explore among stands at a market showcasing cultural and creative products in Beijing on on Saturday. Photo: Dong Feng/GT

Making the markets more interactive, visitors can share their smiling faces in museums, the check-in stamps and live-stream broadcasting in museums. Their photos and broadcast links are collected at markets during the week. 

From Saturday to May 31, various museums in Beijing are offering discounts for visitors, who can take their favorite creative products home after visiting their favorite museums. 

At Beijing White Pagoda Temple, visitors can enjoy a unique type of coffee, baking and dining services, tasting all kinds of special catering and delicacies. The area has beefed up for a classical route of city walk, offering a new element of fashion in century-old hutong, the city's traditional alleyways. 

Beijing Art Museum offers a haven for fashion fans by linking the traditional aesthetics with modern fashion. Market hosted here combines the concepts of guochao and contemporary life. Visitors can take advantage of the settings to go through both modern prosperity and that of the ancient dynasties, appreciating the elegance in Chinese culture. 

Visitors inside National Natural History Museum of China in Beijing on Saturday Photo: Dong Feng/GT

A woman surnamed Wei from Hengshui, North China's Hebei Province told the Global Times that together with her husband, she had taken their daughter to visit National Natural History Museum of China in Beijing. 

"She [My daughter] loves dinosaurs, we take her here to check out the dinosaur fossils. We are just a train trip away," she said.