Emperor's mausoleum

In Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, technology is helping visitors in another way. Visitors can see exhibits via a 3D display through Bowuguan, a Tencent Mini Program, a mobile app-like functionality embedded in its WeChat instant messaging app.

"We have apps but the reason why we use the Mini Program is that visitors can learn more about those exhibits simply by scanning the code, and we want to offer an easy-to-operate way of using technology," said Wang Can, product manager of Bowuguan.

He said in some exhibits, foreign visitors can find the translated version of the exhibit introductions.

"WeChat has a natural advantage as it can bring museums huge online traffic. Like this, a wider group of people can get to know more about the history," he said.

Tencent, as one of the country's leading internet behemoths, launched its business with a focus on social networking and internet games. But in the past few years, it has been fortifying its cultural focus and content creation by utilizing technologies, including artificial intelligence and virtual reality, to direct more people's attention toward traditional culture.

It has forged strategic collaborations with an array of museums, including the Palace Museum in Beijing, to offer museums digital solutions for preserving and promoting cultural heritage through the integration of digital technologies.

Tencent Weishi, a subsidiary focusing on short videos, is promoting a product to equip the experts who repair antiques in the museums with pairs of AI-enabled glasses. With the glasses, the repairing process can be watched live by the audience, which could be witnessed during normal visits.

In this way, museums can achieve the desired publicity effects while protecting the relics.

In addition, QQ, Tencent's social networking platform, is popularizing ancient forms of written characters. Users can download and use these ancient characters when chatting online.

Seng Yee Lau, senior executive vice-president of Tencent, said: "Investors need to focus not only on the business value, but also on the long-term impact of business behaviors and changes made to society. That is the reason why the full integration of technology and culture is a good first step for investors to consider."

Lau said that in the digital era, users also tend to look for personalized experiences that enable self-expression, while seeking empathetic experiences that connect them to others.

Rich rewards

Statistics show that Tencent's efforts in integrating technology and culture are reaping rich rewards.

Last year, it released an H5 interactive program on its mobile app, allowing users to upload personal photos to generate their own military uniform photos. Focusing on patriotism and military culture, the program quickly went viral and received a record high user participation of over 1.07 billion page views and 168 million unique visitors within two weeks.

The Shenzhen-based company is now working to promote such efforts abroad. Tech and culture creativity competition event Next Idea was launched recently in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.

"Moving forward, we will continue to promote technology and culture in various parts of the world," said Li Hang, general manager of Tencent's marketing and public relations.

"In the future, we hope to encourage more cultural exchanges, enhance understanding of cultural diversity and nurture a more global perspective among the younger generations," he said.

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