CHINA BRIEF | Chinese and US museums, including the Met, join Pinduoduo to sell souvenirs via livestream

With people discouraged to gather amid the coronavirus pandemic and many museums shuttered, seven museums have partnered with social e-commerce platform Pinduoduo to livestream tours and sell souvenirs online.

Starting on Friday afternoon, most museums on the roster, which includes the Temple of Heaven in Beijing and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, had about an hour to livestream. The Museum of The Nanyue King of Western Han Dynasty, one of the first museums to broadcast, attracted nearly 10,000 online viewers.

In February, Chang Ji, 43, a Chinese who has been living in the United Kingdom for nearly 20 years, livestreamed a tour at the British Museum on Kuaishou for 90 minutes, attracting 2 million Chinese visitors, according to the Global Times.

This article is part of KrASIA’s “China Brief” section, where KrASIA’s reporters will provide quick daily updates about the tech ecosystem in China.