A LUXURIOUS two-century-old residence in Beijing is getting the public’s attention with

    a new effort to spread its message and goods via cyberspace just in time for Spring Festival, a China Daily report said.

    Prince Kung’s Mansion in the hutong area of Shichahai opened a virtual store on China’s major online shopping website Tmall (gongwangfu.tmall.com) last week, becoming the country’s first major historical and cultural site protected at the national level to establish its own online flagship store.

    The first items in the cyberstore are mainly souvenirs, including cartoon figurines based on historical figures and miniature sculptures of auspicious animals. The highlight: various products developed from the character Fu, which means happiness, written by Emperor Kangxi (1654-1722). The ideograph is carved on a stone tablet in the mansion’s garden.

    “Brand value is crucial for a cultural institution,” said Sun Xuguang, director of the administration office of Prince Kung’s Mansion. “Old museums should update their mindsets to embrace e-commerce. An online flagship store will also help us to protect intellectual property.”

    He says 16,800 sets of Fu products, including six pieces of Chinese New Year decorations and couplets, were one important move in building up the mansion’s brand. No matter how Chinese people are doing in life at any given moment, he says, “It will always be right to send them best wishes for happiness during the Spring Festival.”

    The mansion, covering about 60,000 square meters, was first built in 1777 for Heshen, a wealthy court official during the reign of Qianlong (1736-96). Heshen was later executed for corruption, and Aisin Gioro Yixin, who was titled Prince Kung and was a major initiator among the Manchu imperial family in modern diplomacy and education, became its owner late in the 19th century.

    “It will be no exaggeration to say the mansion represents half of the history of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911),” Sun explained. “It’s the only public example people can see to learn about the life of the Qing princes, and it would be a pity if we were to fail to fully use modern channels to spread that knowledge.”

    There were once more than 100 residences for Qing princes, princesses, and Manchu imperials in Beijing, but fewer than 20 remain today. Prince Kung’s Mansion is the best-preserved among them and the only one open to the public.

    But its path has not always been smooth. Prince Kung’s Mansion was used as a school and later as a factory for decades, and it was not opened to tourists until 1996. Sun says when he arrived in 2008, the mansion looked desolate compared with other historical sites in Beijing.

    He organized a competition one year later for the public to design souvenirs for the institution. There are now more than 2,000 derivative cultural products, which annually earn about 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) for the museum.

    “When certain cultural elements are unique and popular, being famous is not enough,” says Mao Yuhui, CEO of Blue Focus, a brand-promotion company that cooperates with the store. “They have to sell well.

    “The country has many policies that support cultural business, so we’re inspired to develop more products for the store in the future.”

    (SD-Agencies)