Showcase of Spring Festival traditions

In Shanghai, the wood-printed New Year pictures depicted novel subjects, including foreign people, modern life scenes and contemporary events.

The studios adopted new palettes of pink, light green and brown instead of the traditional sharp contrasts of colors to create pictures with urban aesthetics that Shanghai residents liked.

The Shanghai History Museum has a key collection of such pictures, and a carefully selected series is being presented at the exhibition.

During the Spring Festival season, the museum has introduced its newly developed "augmented reality experience" for 30 signature objects that visitors can see by renting a special pair of glasses upon entering the museum.

When they see one of the 30 items, such as a ceremonial sedan chair for Chinese weddings, made in 1936, the glasses play video clips of elaborate details such as the intricate structure of the wooden chair and its interior composition that cannot be observed by the naked eye from afar.

The chair, a highlight piece of the museum, has been carefully maintained in a three-year project.

"Detailed information about it was digitalized, which made it possible to develop the augmented reality experience," says Zhou Qunhua, deputy director of the museum.