Cao Zhen

caozhen0806@126.com

Visitors to Shenzhen Museum will have a chance to buy creative souvenirs designed by local students in the near future as the first “Tianyu Cup” Shenzhen Museum Historical Cultural Creative Souvenir Design Competition kicked off on Saturday.

The public museum, which houses more than 20,000 pieces of cultural relics including the specimens of paleobioligical fossils dated at 100 million years old, ancient artifacts and art treasures, is now collaborating with Tianyu Experimental School in Longgang District to invite students to design creative souvenirs based on the ancient relics. Winners will be announced in November.

“We hope students will give traditional cultural gems a modern twist while creating useful daily items for our life. Judges will review the entries from historical, cultural, aesthetic, practical and commercial perspectives. In the future, we will mass produce, display and sell the most creatively designed and culturally rich souvenirs in our gift shops,” said Du Juan, vice curator of Shenzhen Museum.

“The Forbidden City in Beijing has a wide variety of bizarre souvenirs and I remember a leather backpack with a red palace gate design.”

“Last year, the Sanxingdui Museum in Sichuan also rolled out a set of mooncakes with the shapes of ancient bronze figurines’ faces. These attractive and novel souvenirs masterfully integrate typical ancient elements into modern items, which gave me much inspiration. I will try to create a fresh and vivid souvenir at the competition,” said Lin Yuehong, a student from Tianyu Experimental School.