Joining me right now in the studio is director Shan Jixiang, a former director at the Palace Museum here in the capital. 

SHAN JIXIANG DIRECTOR OF GUGONG INSTITUTE "The Palace Museum is the world's only institution with over 10 million visitors a year. But we aim to further expand our presence and share with billions of people. So we must resort to the internet and digital technologies. We have been watching closely how people are adopting new ways of accessing information, and we're adapting accordingly. Our efforts have achieved impressive results on the internet. The Palace Museum website now sees nearly 900 million visits every year. The museum houses a total of 1.86 million artifacts. Now all of them can be viewed online. People can appreciate and study them anywhere, anytime."

SHAN JIXIANG DIRECTOR OF GUGONG INSTITUTE "We're deploying the latest technologies. Our three studios are producing high-definition materials including videos, photos, and infographics. They are available both on the website and through our mobile apps. The accompanying text comes in both Chinese and English. We especially gear everything toward the tastes of young people. After years of planning, we've created a series of seven virtual reality productions. Each runs about 25 minutes. People can view both the panorama and the minute details of the Palace Museum at their fingertips. The vicarious experience is simply stunning."

SHAN JIXIANG DIRECTOR OF GUGONG INSTITUTE "On Weibo and WeChat, we're also building a strong following. Every day we're updating and adding new content. The bite-sized articles and mini-lectures are particularly popular with our audience. With the aid of multimedia technologies, people virtually take residence in the Palace Museum throughout the year. They can admire the buildings and grounds at all hours and in all weather conditions. Sights of the snow-clad Palace Museum can attract up to 14 million views on the first day of posting."

SHAN JIXIANG DIRECTOR OF GUGONG INSTITUTE "Our collaborations with high-tech firms are also very fruitful. Working with Tencent, we're offering international forums for young students across the globe. One of our most successful endeavors has been an online contest in writing music and lyrics for ancient scroll paintings. We received over 500 highly qualified entries from the Chinese-speaking world. We even held a small concert for it. It's so inspiring to see how the young students convey their feelings about the Palace Museum."

SHAN JIXIANG DIRECTOR OF GUGONG INSTITUTE "Safety has always been a top concern at the Palace Museum. We have over 12-hundred buildings, small and large. All of them are wooden structures. So fire hazards are a constant threat. There are risks from electricity and lightning, among other things. So vigilance is vitally important. We can't afford even the slightest accident."

SHAN JIXIANG DIRECTOR OF GUGONG INSTITUTE "After the fires at the Brazilian Museum and Notre Dame in Paris, we're further upgrading our safety precautions. But at the same time, we also try to ensure the visitors' experience at the Palace Museum. After all, as the museum's custodians, our priority is to serve the visitors.

So we have to strike a balance. In the past we used to give too much emphasis to the protection part of our job. Now we've adopted a different perspective. In addition to the tangible presence, the cultural heritage also exists in people's mind and in their memory. So it's more important to present the Palace Museum to an ever-wider audience. That's why we've been restoring the buildings and opening up more spaces to visitors."

SHAN JIXIANG DIRECTOR OF GUGONG INSTITUTE "It has been a significant change in our mindset. Opening new spaces means extra work and more investment. But it is all worthwhile if the visitors can experience more of the Palace Museum. Our duty is to serve the visitors rather than to make our own lives easier. It involves many hard choices. But we have to put the visitors first."

SHAN JIXIANG DIRECTOR OF GUGONG INSTITUTE "With this new mindset, we are exploring new ways to make the Palace Museum part of people's lives. We have to understand their tastes and preferences. You just mentioned the ancillary products. So far, we've designed about 12 thousand such products. They target all age groups and all countries. They are wonderful souvenirs. They're very effective in bringing the Palace Museum out of Beijing and into the rest of China and the world."