Museums offer livestreaming tours during epidemic

While adhering to his main mission, Bai still occasionally promoted several of the museum's souvenirs during his online lecture on Feb 23. His sales that night reached 20,000 yuan ($2,860).Though the number might seem trivial compared to some celebrated webcast anchors who can reach that amount in seconds during just one promotion on Taobao, it is a big step forward for a museum.

"I only found out that our museum had a Taobao store after I got the assignment," Bai recalls. "I became only the 400th subscriber to it."

However, that has changed significantly over the last couple of weeks, with the store welcoming over 20,000 subscribers.

"Livestreaming offers a great interactive experience for online users to gain knowledge," says Dai Yan, a manager in charge of the project on Taobao. "Users can instantly give feedback to the anchors and ask questions about the museums."

Though the COVID-19 outbreak has brought a lot of inconvenience, museum operators now see this trial as a chance for further reform.

"Old thinking still prevails in museum operation," Zhang says. "That's partially because a bonus system to sustainably encourage creative talents is often lacking in nonprofit public institutions like ours. The other reason is that the academic background of museum employees is often far away from technology."

However, she believes that the burgeoning digital platforms of museums, and features such as livestreaming, will continuously urge the creation of more dynamic systems and the recruiting of talent with more diverse backgrounds.

According to Luo Xiaoqun, a director in charge of public education at Liangzhu Museum, over 190,000 people watched their livestreaming tour on Feb 23. It was originally planned to last for one hour, but due to the response and warm feedback from viewers, the duration of the broadcast almost doubled.

Encouraged by its popularity, a second live broadcast was arranged for March 1.

"It reminds us to widen our horizons," she says. "Short videos, livestreaming and other new approaches can bring the cultural relics closer to people's daily lives."

These improvised online measures will have their legacies, even after the epidemic passes. Luo says the museum will offer a regular, weekly livestreaming show on Taobao.

And, after the long closure, there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel for institutions desperate to reopen physically. On Feb 27, the National Cultural Heritage Administration gave the green light to the opening of the country's museums in a step-by-step manner, in accordance with the epidemic control measures.

Both Zhang and Luo say that their respective museums have drafted specific plans for reopening to ensure the safety of visitors, and Bai is eager to return to his previous position.

"No matter how attractive livestreaming shows can be," Bai says, "it cannot replace the experience of visiting the site and seeing the relics for real."