A hibiscus stone coiled dragon ear cover stove from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty was interpreted as "Qianlong's girlish heart" because of its soft color. It received considerable attention during the nearly one-year-long tour of Jiangsu Province's "See the Suzhou Charm and See the Exhibition at Your Doorstep" (a "pop-up exhibition" with an exhibition period of only more than 10 days in each place), and became the "champion" in the sales of related cultural and creative products. The exhibition recently came to its last stop, Nanjing Museum (Chaotian Palace).
The popularity of "Xiaofenlu" is not only a typical case of cultural and museum communication innovation, but also reflects the profound changes in cultural consumption and identity construction in contemporary society. Some commentators believe that sending Internet celebrity cultural relics from large exhibition halls to grassroots exhibitions and tilting cultural and museum resources to the grassroots will help narrow the gap in urban and rural public cultural services.
On June 14, 2025, the "See the Suzhou Charm in Numbers and See the Exhibition at Your Doorstep" provincial tour was launched in Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province. Visual China data map
In 2024, the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism selected the three most popular museums in the province (Nanjing Museum, Yangzhou China Grand Canal Museum, Suzhou Museum), and planned and launched the "See Suzhou Charms in Numbers, See the Exhibition at Home" tour around the province, which lasted nearly a year. The tour will last for 10 months from October 2024 to July 2025, and the exhibition will cover 13 cities in the province. More than 20 precious cultural relics are on display, including the "Jiuhuatie" of the Five Dynasties, the Qing Qianlong Furong Stone Panchi Ear Cover Furnace, the Eastern Han Dynasty Silver and Bronze Bull Lamp, the Qing Dynasty Mid-Filigree Elephant Incense Burner with Gilded Taiping, and the Qing Dynasty White Jade Fisherman's Boat-shaped Ornaments, and many other national-level cultural relics. This exhibition uses the form of "digital exhibition + precious cultural relics + cultural and creative arts" to allow the public to see cultural relics without going far.
Qing Dynasty Qianlong Furong Stone Panchi Ear Covered Stove Nanjing Museum
In this exhibition, the "small pink stove" - a Qing Dynasty Qianlong Furong stone covered stove with coiled dragon ears is also a very popular star artifact. The covered stove is carved from a whole piece of Furong stone. It is pink in color and covered with natural patterns of different lengths and sizes. The sides of its abdomen are decorated with coiled dragons and door knockers with rings in their mouths, and the top of the lid is also carefully carved with four small coiled dragons, which are lifelike.
According to the Nanjing Daily, as of May 2025, the sales of the "Little Pink Stove" cultural and creative refrigerator magnets have exceeded 700,000 pieces, becoming the best-selling cultural and creative product of Nanjing Museum. In the "Seeing Suzhou Charms in Numbers" tour in Wuxi, the sales of the cultural and creative area on the first day exceeded 400,000 yuan, among which the "Little Pink Stove" refrigerator magnets were the main best-selling products.
"Little Powder Stove" Fridge Magnet
Wuxi Museum's cultural and creative products are hot-selling
The grand queue at Wuxi Station, Jiangnan Evening News, February 22, 2025
According to statistics from Modern Express in May this year, in the nine-month period, the "See Suzhou Charms in Numbers" tour around the province has created many miracles of cultural communication: the tour has covered 10 cities, received more than 1.5 million visitors, and the average daily visitor flow reached 12,000. This action has effectively driven the sales of cultural and creative products to exceed the 10 million yuan mark.
Specifically, Changzhou Station welcomed 238,000 visitors, Lianyungang Station received 42,000 visitors a day, breaking the record of the number of visitors received by registered museums in Jiangsu Province in a single day. On the first day of the opening of the exhibition at Wuxi Station, the sales of the cultural and creative area exceeded 400,000 yuan; the total sales of cultural and creative products at Nantong Station reached 1.01 million yuan.
"A cultural and creative product not only boosted the popularity of the cultural relics exhibition, but also brought traffic to our exhibition and the Nanjing Museum." Tian Tian, head of the Cultural and Creative Department of the Nanjing Museum, previously stated that behind the continuous "breaking the circle and upgrading" of cultural and creative products is the museum's continuous exploration of expanding its boundaries and the "two-way rush" of cultural experience and consumption upgrading.
Why does this pink cultural relic attract so much attention?
The material of the whole body of pink crystal subverts the stereotype of traditional cultural relics as "heavy and simple", which fits the preference of young people for cute aesthetics. Xiaofenlu's cultural and creative products (such as refrigerator magnets) are also given the label of "healing". Young people find cultural identity in the group through consumption and sharing.
The increase in social media popularity has also given cultural relics more exposure in the public eye.
Although the exhibition lasted only 10 days in each place, it was a real "flash exhibition", but it triggered a check-in boom. It has to be said that the Internet celebrity cultural and museum products also made the exhibition famous, making "visiting museums" a popular activity during the holidays. For the public aesthetic education, it is a good way.
On June 21, the "See Suzhou Charm in Numbers and See the Exhibition at Your Doorstep" provincial tour was held. Visual China data map
The specific time is subject to announcement
The tour brings precious cultural relics from leading institutions such as the Nanjing Museum, the China Grand Canal Museum, and the Suzhou Museum to the grassroots, solving the problem of "uneven popularity" in traditional museums and allowing citizens to appreciate top cultural relics at their doorstep. Traditional museums require special trips, while the tour integrates into communities and business districts, making it easier for busy office workers, students and other groups to access culture. AR/VR restores historical scenes (such as the 5G Grand Canal immersive space) and AI talks to ancient people, making abstract knowledge visual, which can make learning more interesting for more young people.
Pizhou City Museum is the second stop of this exhibition tour. Photo by Xinhua News Agency
It is common for parents to bring their children to the exhibition. According to the Yanfu Dazhong Daily, parents in Yancheng reported that "it not only broadened the children's horizons, but also gave us the opportunity to get close to precious cultural relics and artworks." Some parents believe that the "Little Powder Stove" refrigerator magnet can trigger a dynamic display after scanning the code, which allows children to pay attention to the stories behind the cultural relics, which is also a good inspiration. The exhibition not only set off a "museum fever" in various parts of Jiangsu Province, but also added new highlights to the development of the cultural tourism industry.
