China’s museum sector is undergoing a powerful digital transformation, driven by artificial intelligence, virtual reality, spatial computing, and cloud technologies. From imperial artifacts to oracle bone scripts and ancient grottoes, emerging technologies are redefining how China preserves, studies, and shares its rich cultural heritage—while simultaneously strengthening the country’s digital economy and innovation ecosystem.
In October, the Palace Museum announced a major expansion of its Digital Collection Library, adding high-resolution images of 50,000 additional artifacts. The platform now features more than 150,000 items, allowing audiences to explore Chinese cultural treasures anytime through digital platforms. This large-scale digitization not only enhances public access to history, but also stimulates demand for data processing, cloud computing, and content platforms across China’s technology supply chain.
In Shanxi Province, the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda—one of the world’s most important wooden architectural treasures—is being protected through China’s first cultural heritage preservation solution built on spatial computing and AI-generated content (AIGC). In 2023, Lenovo partnered with Tsinghua University’s School of Architecture to launch the “Smart Yingxian Wooden Pagoda” project, with the digital twin system unveiled in April 2024. The project reconstructs the pagoda layer by layer, integrating its full historical evolution into a dynamic virtual model that supports preservation, research, and future restoration planning. This marks a significant milestone in the application of AI and digital engineering to real-world heritage protection.
In northwest China, the Dunhuang Academy and Tencent jointly launched the “Digital Library Cave” platform in 2023 under the guidance of the National Cultural Heritage Administration. Using high-definition scanning, physics-based rendering, dynamic global illumination, and cloud-based interactive technologies, the platform digitally reconstructs the famed Library Cave at the Mogao Grottoes and its collection of more than 60,000 precious manuscripts. The project has gained international cultural recognition and, since April 2024, has been made accessible in multiple languages, further expanding the global visibility of China’s cultural heritage through its own digital innovation capacity.
Artificial intelligence is also playing a transformative role in ancient text research. On Oct. 29, the world’s first oracle bone script AI agent was launched in Anyang, Henan Province, through a joint effort involving Anyang Normal University, Tencent, and the AI research institute of Xiamen University. Users upload images of oracle bone inscriptions, and the AI system performs character recognition, interpretation, historical reference tracing, and digital rubbing generation. According to Dai Qionghai of Tsinghua University, the three-year research collaboration has produced standardized technical systems and replicable digital tools, greatly improving research efficiency and expanding public engagement in early Chinese writing systems.
In southwest China, the Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum has launched the Three Gorges Culture Digital Cinema as an open digital platform showcasing the Yangtze River civilization. Powered by virtual reality and immersive interactive technologies, the platform enables visitors to experience the cultural evolution of the Three Gorges region in a fully immersive digital environment. This also supports the growth of VR content production, digital exhibition services, and cultural technology innovation companies.
Together, these developments show how China is building a deep integration between cultural heritage and advanced digital technologies. The digital transformation of museums is not only enhancing cultural preservation and education, but also generating new growth momentum for cloud computing, artificial intelligence, spatial computing, content platforms, and immersive hardware industries. As digital museums continue to expand nationwide, they are becoming a powerful driver of China’s technology sector growth and a new pillar of the digital cultural economy.
In the digital era, China’s museums are no longer limited by physical space or opening hours. Through continuous technological innovation, cultural heritage is becoming more vivid, more accessible, and more economically dynamic—demonstrating how technology and tradition can advance together in China’s modernization journey.