Virtual exhibitions cover a wide range of subjects spanning over 8,000 years of history

On International Museum Day 2022, 4DAGE announced it landed virtual tours and exhibitions of 23 museums, including the historic Henan Museum and Zhejiang Provincial Museum in China and the Hetjens Museum in Germany, through a mini program on Alipay, the leading digital open platform. The collaboration between 4DAGE and Alipay provides China’s mobile-savvy audience an opportunity to better engage with and learn about the museums’ rich histories.

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A large bronze mask from China’s “Sanxingdui Ruins” displayed in the Sichuan Museum’s Bronze Age exhibition; from the virtual tour on the Alipay platform (Photo: Business Wire)

The mini program “Yunshang Mibao” (translated as “treasure hunting on the cloud”) launched on the Alipay platform provides users an immersive museum-visiting experience at their fingertips. They can appreciate the beauty of cultural relics in 3D and have a comprehensive tour of historical collections with Chinese narration.

These virtual exhibitions cover a wide range of subjects spanning 8,000 years of history, including Bronze Age civilization in the Yangtze river valley, dinosaurs in the Mesozoic Era and ceramics in the Rococo period.

“We are delighted to collaborate with museums and the Alipay platform to explore innovative ways to communicate the stories and histories of culture institutions to a wider range of museum and art lovers,” said Shen Ming, Director of International Cooperation from 4DAGE, the VR technology provider for the virtual tours.

“Alipay is committed to supporting the digital operations of brands and merchants to enhance their connection and engagement with consumers in China. Together with our partners, we are exploring digital solutions to meet museums’ evolving needs, including leveraging technology to bring their stories to a younger generation and open new commercialization opportunities,” said Xiaoqi Wang, Head of digital operations for culture and tourism sector at Alipay.

The partnership between 4DAGE and Alipay reflects Alipay’s continued commitment to help museums globally engage and deepen their relationship with China’s growing cultural arts and history community at time when international travel is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

To further celebrate this year’s International Museum Day, 28 Chinese museums are issuing newly launched creative digital collectibles on the Alipay mini program and the Topnod app, an Ant Group platform for collecting, exploring, and sharing digital collectibles.

A UNESCO report published in May 2020 showed the global museum industry has been severely impacted by COVID-19 with nearly 90% of museums worldwide closing their doors during the pandemic¹. However, less than 20% of museum collections were available online, according to a report by the Network of European Museum Organisations in July 2020². Facing the pressing challenges brought by the pandemic, a growing number of museums start to leverage digital platforms and solutions, including online exhibitions, digital tours, and even livestreaming and blockchain technology powered digital collectibles, to better engage with museum lovers.

Including today’s announcement and a recent collaboration with nine Italian museums, over 2,000 museums have landed on the Alipay platform to enhance their digital operations and better connect with museum lovers. These museums are utilising at least one of the digital tools and services available on Alipay, such as mini programs, lifestyle accounts, and blockchain-powered digital collectibles.

About 4DAGE

Founded in 2014, 4DAGE has been dedicated to the studies and application of artificial intelligence in the field of three-dimensional digital reconstruction. As one of the first 3D digital reconstruction centers in China and one of the pioneering companies in 3D display technologies, 4DAGE provides products and solutions to major museums and expositions globally, including the Palace Museum, Nanchang Han Dynasty Haihunhou Historic Site Museum and World Expo. 4DAGE also serves industries ranging from industrial intelligence and smart city to real estate and new retail.

About Alipay

In the evolving digital era, Alipay has transformed from a payment tool of public trust to an open platform for businesses, institutions, service providers, and other partners. Business partners in various industries utilize Alipay to offer consumers a safe and convenient payment experience. Through digital operation, business partners can communicate and provide various commercial and daily life digital services for their clients via Alipay mini programs, lifestyle accounts, and IoT, along with other tools available. Currently, there have been over 80 million businesses serving more than 1 billion consumers via Alipay’s open platform services.

¹ https://cimam.org/documents/102/Museums_around_the_world_in_the_face_of_COVID-19_-_UNESCO_Biblioteca_Digital.pdf

² https://icom.museum/en/news/online-learning-teaching-digitised-collections/

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