A GROUP of “cute” flash animations of Emperor Yongzheng (1678-1735) went viral on the Internet and were “liked” by netizens across the country.

    The GIFs were made by technicians from the Palace Museum in Beijing, based on the “Paintings of Amusement of Emperor Yongzheng.” In them, the emperor washes his feet on a riverside, fights with a tiger and shoots a bird. Interesting captions accompany the graphics, according to the Sina website.

    In one of the GIFs, Yongzheng sits by the river and washes his feet in civilian clothes. He occasionally rubs one leg to the other one, saying “My feet are ... itchy.”

    In an archery picture, he bends the bow, attaches the string and shoots the birds flying over. The subtitle says “You are flying forward freely, I am trying so hard to keep pace with you. I am so tired.”

    The most interesting is the fishing one. He sits still by the river and after 10 seconds the rod begins to go up.

    Since they were uploaded Aug.1, the GIFs have received more than 800,000 hits and attracted many comments.

    Yongzheng, born in 1678, was the fourth son of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). He was well-known for his hard work, suspicious character and strict administration. He was a standard workaholic who only took one day off every year: his birthday. Chinese historians say he was an enlightened ruler who inherited the foundations of his father Kangxi and set the stage for his son Qianlong, two of the longest-serving rulers in Chinese history who represented the peak of the Qing Dynasty.

    “Emperors, particularly hard-working emperors like Yongzheng, have always seemed far away from us. I always thought they were different, hard to reach. But after I saw the animations I suddenly felt the emperors were also normal people and kind of ‘cute,’” said a netizen called Shisanmei from Sina Weibo.

    Yu Zhuang, director of the development team of the animated photos, said they did not expect that this series of creations would be so popular on the Internet.

    “We planned to increase public awareness and understanding of the culture of the Forbidden City by launching a series of different applications based on the palace,” he said. “We did not expect they could receive such overwhelming praise. Maybe a more vivacious Forbidden City suits their tastes more than the traditional one.”

    The team chose nine paintings from 1.8 million in the collections at the Palace Museum. They added the animations and creative ideas based on the original pictures in order to showcase the fun side of Yongzheng.

    Yu said that the Palace Museum launched two official iPad apps in the Apple Store, the “Yinzhen Beauty Map” and “Forbidden City Mascots” in May 2013 and June 2014, respectively. So far, the number of downloads has surpassed 680,000.

    The palace will next launch several apps featuring “A Day of an Emperor,” “Hanxizai Night Party Painting” and “Emperor’s Costumes in Qing Dynasty.”

    To better promote traditional culture in the digital era, the palace also jointly established a digital application institute with Japan’s Toppan Printing Co. Ltd. They will together produce more than 20 videos introducing the culture, paintings and architecture of the palace.

    Meanwhile, the palace also launched official accounts on Sina Weibo and WeChat to promote traditional culture, arts and architecture to the netizens. (Wang Yuanyuan)