Sales of cultural and creative products by the Palace Museum in Beijing reached 1.5 billion yuan ($221 million) in 2017 thanks to the increasing influence of the museum's intellectual property (IP), Shan Jixiang, curator of the Palace Museum, said on Sunday.
Addressing a forum in Yabuli, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Shan said that the special budget allocated to the Palace Museum was 1.12 billion yuan in 2018.
"The government provided 54% of funds while the rest had to be earned ourselves," Shan was quoted as saying in a report by caijing.com.cn.
Cultural and creative products sold by the Palace Museum have gained increasing popularity in recent years.
The museum has offered more than 12,000 cultural souvenirs such as cosmetics, paper fans, mobile phone shells, key rings and refrigerator magnets, according to media reports.
In 2018, China's per capita expenditure on education, culture and entertainment hit 2,226 yuan, accounting for 11.2% of per capita consumption, data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism showed. The figure was 2,086 yuan in 2017, according to official data.
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