Gen Zs in China snapping up replicas of museum artefacts. Is this about cultural confidence?

CHONGQING – Museum artefacts usually sit behind glass displays, quietly awaiting admirers.

In China, they are also being transformed into exquisite replicas that young people are rushing to buy at museum wenchuang (cultural souvenir) stores – and flaunt on social media.

This appears to be one of the ways people are displaying cultural confidence, as China develops into a global powerhouse.

Leading the trend is a fridge magnet made in the likeness of the fengguan (phoenix crown) worn by Empress Xiaoduan of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), which is displayed at the National Museum of China. Over 2.3 million units have reportedly been sold since its release in July 2024, with some fans queueing for it from 6am in the rain.

From 2026, the fengguan and nine other iconic artefacts will have their own section on e-commerce site Tmall. Among these are the Shaanxi History Museum’s “golden rice bowl” from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and the renowned “fat sword” belonging to King Fuchai of the Wu state some 2,500 years ago.

Tmall’s parent company, Alibaba, said on Feb 3 that it will invest resources to create over 100 new products and promote collaboration between museums and other brands.

These wenchuang, in the form of plushies, bookmarks, keychains, mugs and more, tap into China’s burgeoning emotional economy.

Consumers are increasingly turning to products and experiences that provide emotional value, be it joy, comfort or stress relief, such as when they open blind boxes, buy products with historical references and attend concerts.

Netizens have raved about how beautiful the cultural souvenirs are and how happy they are to own them.

Some have also delved into the history behind the replicas. The fengguan’s owner, Empress Xiaoduan, for instance, is celebrated as the longest-reigning queen in Chinese history, a virtuous woman who held the crown for 42 years despite not bearing a son.

Policymakers in China are hoping to tap the country’s growing emotional economy in 2026 to spur flagging domestic demand, according to provincial meetings held since January.

A report by iiMedia Research, a Chinese consultancy company, estimated that China’s emotional economy is expected to surpass 4.5 trillion yuan in 2029, based on capital markets calculations – almost double the 2.3 trillion yuan recorded in 2024.

Official data in May 2025 showed that revenue from museum gift shops grew 63.7 per cent year on year to 3.428 billion yuan (S$626 million) in 2024. Takings for the first six months of 2025 have already exceeded the total sales in 2024, hitting 9.7 billion yuan. 

China Newsweek reported on Feb 2 that the number of companies producing cultural and creative products has grown fivefold over the past six years to 45,000.

Citing consumer research, China Newsweek also reported that young consumers are spurring the buying trend, with those born after 2000 making up 49.7 per cent of respondents who indicated an interest in buying cultural and creative products from museums.

Another 29.4 per cent were those born after the 1990s, the report stated, adding that 61.7 per cent of respondents said that “emotional value” was one of their main reasons for wanting to buy museum souvenirs.

Assistant Professor Rhonwyn Vaudrey, a consumer culture expert at the Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Suzhou, told The Straits Times that the growth of the emotional economy is driven by Chinese consumers’ “recognition of satisfying needs beyond visible status”, pointing to how policymakers are now advocating intangible cultural heritage and the return of street food markets as experiences that can help with the “building of an updated identity with cultural confidence or... (the) creation of a newer version of the Chinese cultural identity for younger people”.

She also noted that there is “a lot more individualism among younger people in China now, in terms of their self-expression and the establishment of their own identities”.

President Xi Jinping has urged the Chinese to build cultural confidence as early as 2012, when he first took office, as a way to foster national pride and promote Chinese culture.

Years of consistent government messaging and investment into related industries created a nationalistic wave known as guochao, which sees the Gen Zs embracing local brands, celebrating “Made in China”, and connecting with Chinese heritage.

As a foreigner in China, I am often the recipient of many wenchuang from newly made friends and work contacts – from intricate bookmarks to ceramic pots, all very well-crafted.

These presents are usually accompanied by a story about the items’ origins, often told with pride and a deep willingness to share their culture with me.

A friend in his 20s who likes to collect wenchuang – and had given me fridge magnets and books – told me that the items “instil a strong sense of pride because they allow me to understand my heritage better”. There is certainly much to learn, considering that China’s history spans 5,000 years.

If his passion, along with the latest official data on museums’ gift shops, is anything to go by, the trend of emotional spending on these cultural souvenirs seems set to stay.

How far it can help to lift overall consumption, however, remains to be seen.