A wide array of cultural products are on display at a souvenir shop in the Nantong Museum. [Photo/ntjoy.com]

The Nantong Museum was the first public museum independently established by Chinese people and has led local museums in developing creative cultural products.

According to Shi Dongshen, chief designer at the museum, most products there are based on the museum's collections and the city's intangible cultural heritage items. 

For example, the museum recently started selling scarves and umbrellas featuring patterns from a medal that the Yuan Shikai government (1912-1928) conferred to Zhang Jian, a famous contemporary industrialist and top scholar, as well as founder of the museum.

"The development of such products is meant to breathe new life into cultural relics," said Shi. "Coasters featuring some old photos and scarf buttons featuring an ancient shepherding painting are among the most popular."

The museum currently offers around 200 types of creative cultural products, bringing in more than 1 million yuan ($141,400) per year. This income is used to support the development of more cultural products and help the museum hold more diverse exhibitions.

The museum has also been working with the Imperial Examination Museum located in Nanjing to develop cultural products for an exhibition themed on Zhang Jian, who was also a Number One Scholar in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).