New lines boost New Year sales

"Blessing money" proved popular. [Photo/www.cyol.net]

A new line of cultural products designed by the Palace Museum to coincide with Chinese New Year have gone down well with the public.

Items including calendars, Spring Festival scrolls and a "fortune bucket"(a small cylinder containing blessing scrolls and posters) spurred trade with some creations sold out within days. More than 200,000 calendars flew off the shelves with extra copies in demand.

"The museum has rich cultural resources that can be developed and we are trying to find what the public wants and make the cultural relics 'come to life'," said Zhou Jianxiong, deputy chief of the sales section in the service center.

To promote Chinese culture, the museum has designed several novelties in recent years, including cutie palace dolls and household items combining cultural elements.