Running Horse gives rise to cultural creativity

The Bronze Running Horse relic, also known as Galloping Horse on a Flying Swallow. (Xinhua/Ma Xiping)

The Bronze Running Horse relic, also known as Galloping Horse on a Flying Swallow (Running Horse), of the Eastern Han Dynasty is discovered in the 1960s in Wuwei city, Gansu province. It was confirmed as a Chinese tourism symbol in 1983 and is the treasure of the Gansu Provincial Museum.

In recent years, the cultural creativity center of Gansu Provincial Museum took the running horse as the prototype, anthropomorphizing the cultural relics as a doll with interesting characteristics, which has attracted many consumers.

On social media, several hundred thousand of audience liked and re-posted news items related to the running horse. People also waited in long lines at the Gansu Museum to see the prototype of the online celebrity doll.

Meanwhile, creative derivatives from other museums, such as earphones in the shape of Chaozhou (typical necklace of the Qing imperial costume), lollipop of Yupei shape (A jade pendant), ice cream of bronze and oracle shape, and blind boxes of Sanxingdui bronzes, are also welcomed by the public.

 

The Running Horse dolls are popular for their funny looks. (Xinhua/Ma Xiping)

 Museum cultural and creative products went viral through innovation, making traditional culture trendier and enhancing people’s cultural identity.

Shen Mingjie, director of the Center for Silk Road Cultural Innovation Research of Lanzhou University, held that the Running Horse of Gansu Museum boom is closely related to the present cultural and aesthetic trends.

"Nowadays, cultural products catering to youth's spoof preferences of ugliness, cuteness, dumbness and hilariousness have become a hit, because they let people under stress have a break," said Shen.

Shen believed secondary creation related to the Running Horse on Douyin, Weibo and other social media also boosted the doll's popularity. In return, the number of followers of the Gansu center for cultural creativity increased from around 100 to 85,000.

Rising frequencies of museum visits by the young also contributed to the Running Horse doll craze. Data on Ctrip.com showed that in the first half of 2022, those in their 40s accounted for 41% of museum visitors, the 30s constituted 29%, and the 20s 30%.

Young people have become majority museum goers, favoring cultural products which meet their aesthetics. Shen said that the Running Horse inspired practitioners to follow popular culture and enhanced the interaction between products and consumers.

“We should retell traditional culture in modern language, letting people perceive tradition in a trendsetting way,” said Shen, noting creative products have boosted the public interest not only in cultural relics but also in stories behind.

On the other hand, the government has also given more policy support to culture products. In May 2016, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China issued relevant documents, encouraging museums, art galleries and libraries to develop their own cultural derivatives.

In November 2016, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage identified 92 cultural entities as pilots to develop creative products by turning intellectual property into market shares.

The above policies deepened the cooperation between market entities and museums, motivating practitioners for further creation.

Over 124,000 types of cultural and creative products were developed by Chinese museums in 2020, with an income of more than 1.1 billion yuan.

Reporting by Wang Hao, Wei Qimeng (China Youth); Translating by Guo Yao