For visitors, the Palace Museum in Beijing, China's former imperial palace also known as the Forbidden City, is a perfect place to glimpse the country's rich history and cultural splendor.

Nevertheless, this compound, which witnessed the rise and fall of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties and many historic events, may also be stereotyped for its solemn atmosphere. How to attract and better inform younger visitors has been a question museum operators have been trying to solve.

Many ideas have been suggested and implemented: Tailored websites for teenagers, various entertaining apps for mobile devices, animation books. Now, yet another plan has been drafted in the museum.

The Palace Museum announced last week it was going to produce its first original musical specifically for children, and the performance will tour nationwide after a Beijing premiere.

The upcoming musical, Luduan, will feature an auspicious animal in traditional Chinese mythology with that name.

Luduan, also a unicorn, is said in myths to be able to travel 9,000 kilometers within a day and speak many languages. Consequently, it is often honored as a guarding deity for wise rulers during the time of imperial China.

A pair of Luduan statues in front of the throne in the Taihe Dian (the Hall of Supreme Harmony), the highest-level architecture in the Forbidden City, are chosen as protagonists in the show, but their images are also seen elsewhere across this former imperial palace.

"It stands for not only knowledge, and wisdom, but also hope for favorable weather and prosperity," Yan Hongbin, deputy director of the Palace Museum and chief producer of the musical, says. "Like the Chinese dragon and phoenix, Luduan is a remarkable symbol co-created by mythology and history. It demonstrates Chinese people's ethos to respect nature, pursue beauty and their eagerness to keep moving."

Although the detailed story of the musical has not been released, Yan reveals some other representative cultural elements in the Forbidden City will also be part of the musical.

They include Hangshi, a deity to keep off thunderstorms appearing as a roof decoration on Taihe Dian, the "gold chalice of eternal stability", a key artifact in Qing Dynasty emperor Qianlong's study, and even the cats wandering around today's Palace Museum, widely favored by tourists.

According to Yan, knowledge of cultural relic conservation and historic events concerning the Palace Museum are also mixed into the story to improve children's consciousness of heritage protection. For example, the musical will also tell of the 1930s' painstaking effort to move some collections southward when the front line of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) approached Beijing.

In the Palace Museum, home for 1.86 million cultural relics and the world's largest surviving palatial architecture compound, successful trials have recently been undertaken to better explain its cultural troves through stage performances.

For instance, The Legend of a Panorama of Rivers and Mountains, a dance drama coproduced by the museum and the Beijing-based China Oriental Performing Arts Group last year, won overwhelming praise among viewers. It was inspired by A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains, a 12th century milestone scroll painting, which is now housed at the Palace Museum.

In experts' eyes, such works tailored for children may unlock a new terrain of public education.

"Cultural heritage composes a core part in aesthetic education for children," Wang Dengfeng, an official in charge of fine art department under the Ministry of Education, says. "It needs more such creative ideas to explain the value of heritages and thus promote their lasting development."

Wang Xudong, director of the Palace Museum, also says Luduan is far more than just a show.

"It'll be a teaser for upcoming projects, which can guide the young generation to nurture righteous attitudes toward history and culture," he says. "It's also our social responsibility. With our academic support and open mind, more art troupes are welcomed in follow-up programs."

About 20 "charity shows" free of charge are planned when the production of Luduan is finished and performances begin.

(Source: China Daily)