Chinese museums jump on coloring book bandwagon

Yangzhou Museum

Yangzhou Museum released free coloring cards during its special art works exhibition in Spring. This is a card with the character Zheng Xie, a noted Qing Dynasty (1636-1912) painter as well as one of the Eight Eccentric Painters of Yangzhou. [Photo/yzmuseum.com]

From April 16 to May 18, a special exhibition of art works by the Eight Eccentric Painters of Yangzhou was held in Yangzhou Museum. To promote the activity, the museum released a series of 15 coloring cards.

During the exhibition, the museum provided 100 free coloring cards, with a cartoon figure of the Eight Eccentric Painters of Yangzhou on one side and introduction of the figure on the other side. Visitors can also get a special seal as a souvenir on the card in the museum.

Every two days, the museum offers coloring cards with a different character or design. Visitors can buy a whole series at the gift shop in the museum.

According to the museum staff members, the cards soon became children's favorites. Several kids visited the museum twice or even more times, just to collect the different cards. They were also eager to color the character on the cards in a museum-designated area together.