A museum in Zhengzhou, the capital of central China's Henan Province, is recreating the excitement of archaeological discoveries for visitors in a series of blind boxes. The boxes at Henan Museum allow visitors to dig up the earth piece by piece to see replicas of bronze pots, jade, and other cultural relics from dynasties ago.
A blind box dug up and a replica of an ancient relic is found. /Official Weibo account of People's Daily
For around 40 yuan (about $6.15), people can take their chances in digging up their own treasures. The blind boxes come in different sizes and for the larger boxes, visitors get a Luoyang shovel, often used in archaeological excavations in China, for free.
Luoyang shovels are a free gift with large-sized blind boxes. /Xinhua
As of 5 p.m. local time on December 4, the museum's blind boxes were sold out. Many netizens went to the official Weibo account of Henan Museum to call for a restock. By noon, the new stock had been sold out after just half an hour. Those looking for these blind boxes will now have to wait for 10-20 days.
A 'treasure' found within a blind box./China News
Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an has also released a series of blind boxes based on bronze vessels and patterns from China's Bronze Age including the Shang and Zhou dynasties. What's also popular are the sized-down models reminiscent of early Chinese history by Sanxingdui Musem.
Several Chinese museums have released blind boxes with replica relics from early Chinese history. /Xinhua
As reported by Caijing, the annual sale figures of blind boxes in China have grown into as big as around 10 billion yuan, according to industry research firm Frost and Sullivan.