Chinese museums jump on coloring book bandwagon

The Longmen Grottoes

The upcoming coloring album by the Longmen Grottoes consists of eight beautiful patterns. All the patterns come from ancient mural paintings in the grottoes. [Photo/dahe.cn]

Journalists from local media in Henan province saw a coloring album edited by the Longmen Grottoes committee on Sunday. According to the administrative committee of the grottoes, it will be published in October.

The album consists of eight pages with beautiful patterns and a brief introduction to each pattern, for example about a queen in the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-557) paying respect to Buddha and a Tang Dynasty (618-907) Bodhisattva.

Yu Ying, director of the administrative committee of the Grottoes, told journalists that most of the statues in the grottoes were originally colored. After more than 1,000 years, the colors have faded.

"We're not just jumping on the bandwagon, or to imitate what other museums do. It is just an example of 'Internet + heritage protection'. We hope to restore the caves in this way, and offer more knowledge of cultural relic protection to the public through such an innovation," Yu said.

"To some degree, the concept of historic relic protection is too esoteric for most visitors. However, by coloring the patterns, they will establish a link with the grottoes and history. That's the most significant part," he added.