Researching the Chinese market

Transcription

1 Culture, Media & Creative Industries (CMCI) Understanding Consumer Culture Online Student-Observers Report Researching the Chinese market Student observers: Jing Zhao, Jingjing Yue and Xi Zhang (MA Cultural and Creative Industries) March 2014 Project supervisors: Dr Hye-Kyung Lee and Dr Fidele Vlavo Project partner: The National Gallery, London The project is funded by the Culture Institute at King's Innovation programme.

2 Contents 1. Introduction 2. Background Information -- Chinese Market 2.1 Recommendations of traveling spots from Chinese famous tourism websites 2.2 Three types of Chinese visitors 2.3 The Comments from Chinese tourism websites and Chinese visitors 3. Chinese version website online experience 4. Issues relating offline experience 4.1 Insufficient Chinese art works exhibition 4.2 Lack of Cross-cultural understanding 4.3 Less accessible physical engagement 4.4 Lack of physical or digital supplement 5. Conclusion References 1

3 1. Introduction The National Gallery (short for NG) is a famous worldwide-known art gallery. Its abundant art masterpieces attract thousands of millions of people from all around the world. To build its reputation internationally, it is important in acknowledging the voices of overseas visitors. This report will first introduce the background information of Chinese Market; precisely, the recommendations of London s traveling spots from Chinese famous tourism websites, the way Chinese visitors choose to travel through UK, and the comments they review about NG. In the second section, the strengths and drawbacks of the Chinese version of NG website will be figured out. And in the third, the reasons that Chinese visitors may less likely get involved into NG offline experience will be indicated. Suggestions will be made separately in the second and third part, about how the online and offline experience of NG could be optimized to further meet the needs of potential Chinese visitors. 2. Background Information -- Chinese Market 2.1 Recommendations of traveling spots from Chinese famous tourism websites The Top 10 recommendations of traveling spots in London are as followed: British Museum, London Tow er Bridge, Buckingham Palace, London Tower, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Downing Street, Windsor Castle and Oxford Street. As been shown, the National Gallery is in this list. Due to the limitation of Chinese visa, the majority of Chinese visitors from Mainland China visit the United Kingdom through the travel Agencies. The maximum time they spent in London is 3 Days. And recently, the young visitors among them always choose to visit the UK by themselves. Due to the mentioned ranking, many visitors may not put NG into their travelling schedule. 2

4 Pic. 1 Recommendations of traveling spots from Chinese famous tourism websites 2.2 Three types of Chinese visitors Depending on the degree of travelling flexibility, there are three types of Chinese visitors: A (Group tours): Following the itinerary arrangement of Travel Agency during the whole journey. The Travel Agency not only arranges the transportation and hotel reservation but also decides the places for Chinese visitors to visit. B (Half freedom travels): Making an arrangement by themselves. The Visitors themselves decide where to visit. They can choose the places on the basis of their interests, from history heritages, museums, and art galleries to shopping malls. The Travel Agency merely has responsibility to arrange the hotel and transportation. C (Self-guided tours): All being arranged by visitors themselves. Qestion: Which type of visitors prefers to visit NG? Answer: C > B > A Reasons: age, education background, personal interests, the schedule limitation (NG is not included in the schedule of Travel Agency) 3

5 Passive visitors: A & B -- Some of them may visit NG. They pay a visit to NG due to the Agencies Schedule --- only account for the small proportion. Many of them may not interest in art and do not understand art. Active visitors: C -- According to the information on Chinese travel Agencies websites, most of them do not visit National Gallery. Those who pay a visit to National Gallery based on their interests. Some of them love art, however, some of them are just pretend to be an art lover, and some of them visit just because it is famous place for art worldwide. Qestion: Which type of tourists is willing to spend money on cultural productions in NG? Answer: The most popular thing that Chinese Tourists consumed: The postcard (young people) Productions for kids: such as toys with features of NG (Middle aged people) The reasons for limited cultural consumption of Chinese Tourists For the people who want to visit gallery (Active participation group) Long distance: Inconvenient of carrying large items back to China. People, especially the active visitors are always willing to buy some books or souvenirs in NG, however, some of them are too heavy to carry. High prices Unnecessary: A lot of counterfeit productions available in China, so there is no need to buy the reproductions in London. 2.3 The Comments from Chinese tourism websites and Chinese visitors The overall comments about NG are quite optimistic. The majority of Chinese tourism websites rank NG a five-star traveling spot, and the other rank NG at least a four-star. Visitors are pleased with the free entry, great permanent and seasonal exhibitions, and they enjoy the artsy and magnificent environment. But some of them feel disappointed about the overmuch information and incomplete Chinese translation; further they may feel apart if they have no interest of arts. 4

6 Positive Comments Free Entry Great Collections (Permanent exhibitions, special exhibitions) Wonderful Environment (Architecture, Trafalgar Square, etc.) Education One Day Out Communication with the arts Negative Comments Too much to see (Too big and too informative) Incomplete Chinese translation Only for those who are interested in the arts 3. Chinese version website online experience There is no official statistics of Chinese version website online experience. So the following opinions are based on 30 talks of Chinese. The area of language selection is at the bottom right corner, and this is very inconspicuous and uneasy to find. pic. 2 The area of language selection 5

7 Chinese translation is incomplete. Chinese and English present in the same page. Even the National Gallery has not translated into Chinese, which may reduce the user-friendliness. Pic. 3 The page of Chinese version webiste of NG The website has clear blocks, but important information has not been highlighted. The most important section should be Visiting information, followed by Explore the collection and Virtual Tour. Shopping, Dinning and Gathering, Contact Us should be the least important one. Pic. 4 The current structure of Chinese version website of NG Pic. 5 The possible reorganized structure of Chinese version website of NG 6

8 The display area of the arrow key is too small. Only putting the arrow key at the line below the picture can trigger arrow key to hand key. Pic. 6 The reflection area of mouse So it may be better to change the whole block as the reflection area of mouse. Pic. 7 Changing the reflection area of mouse In the section of Explore the collection ( 精 选 馆 藏 ). There are three obvious insufficiencies: the picture cannot be zoomed in, the selected paintings are limited, and no history of the picture has been introduced. 7

9 The picture cannot be zoomed in The selected paintings are limited No history of the picture has been introduced Pic. 8 The insufficiencies of Explore the collection ( 精 选 馆 藏 ) In the section of Virtual Tour ( 展 开 网 上 游 览 ). The most obvious inconspicuous area is the map of NG, and this is one of the most significant starting points that visitors can explore NG online. The area of map is inconspicuous Pic. 9 The insufficiency of Virtual Tour ( 展 开 网 上 游 览 ) 8

10 Conclusion of Online Experience Chinese version website of NG Problem Suggestions Chinese translation is incomplete. Complete language translation Online structure could be reorganized. Restructure the website User interaction is less friendly Focus on user-friendly Some suggestion regarding online consumption Cooperation with famous Chinese online Shopping websites: Taobao.com, Tianmao.com, JD.com, etc. Overseas distribution (sending by post) Creating more portable products. 4. Issues relating offline experience Instead of knowing why people go to NG, it is more of importance to acknowledge why people do not choose NG to visit. The Museum Experience Model (GABRIELS, et al., 2009) gives some hints of this. This model involves three dimensions: personal context, physical context and socio-cultural context. Personal context implies individual knowledge, abilities, preferences or interests; physical context means the design and architecture of NG; orientation, construction, and display of the objects, artifacts or exhibits; and socio-cultural context indicates the socio-cultural mediation and facilitation of learning during visiting. With their own knowledge background, visitors gain experience through the physical context and the socio-cultural context given by NG. Chinese visitors rarely have the knowledge of the Western myth, so if there are no Chinese exhibits, they may feel apart from the paintings in NG and they cannot understand the meaning of the paintings. In other words, the lack of cultural understanding may contribute to dissatisfied experience. Besides, there are no interactive installations or digital supplements can help them to acknowledge NG, understand the masterpieces and be engaged into the offline experience in NG. 9

11 Pic. 10 The Museum Experience Model (GABRIELS, et al., 2009) Based on above indication, there are four reasons that may contribute to less engagement among Chinese visitors: Insufficient Chinese art works exhibition Lack of Cross-cultural understanding Less accessible physical engagement Lack of physical or digital supplement 4.1 Insufficient Chinese art works exhibition Compared to other galleries or museums, such Victoria and Albert Museum and Tate Modern, insufficient Chinese masterpieces are available in NG. 10

12 Travelling to the Wonderland: A new installation by Xu Bing V&A Masterpieces of Chinese Painting V&A Ai Weiwei: Sunflower seeds Tate Modern k/travelling-wonderland-newinstallation-xu-bing-va hibitions/masterpieces-of-chinesepainting/ on/tate-modern/exhibition/unilever- series-ai-weiwei-sunflower-seeds Pic. 10 Chinese art works exhibition in V&A and Tate Modern 4.2 Lack of Cross-cultural understanding The first thing need to note is that the incomplete Chinese version of audio tours: only selected paintings have been translated, so Chinese visitors whose English are not good may have unsatisfied experience. For another, even though Chinese visitors have acquired good level of English, or guided tours or audio tours can be translated into Chinese completely, the visitors may not able to understand the meaning of the paintings. The initial reason is that many of them have no knowledge of Western history, religion, myths, or biblical stories. Without proper understanding of Western fine arts, visitors may less likely to get involved into the paintings. For tourists, especially, they may feel disappointed since they have limited time to experience and they cannot gain pleasant journey. So in this case, language translation does not have to completely consistent. Instead, abridging the cultural barriers is the significant issue. One suitable example should be introduced -- Chinese zodiac trail ( It matches the similar and contrast meanings between Chinese and European in terms of these selected animals, so that Chinese visitors can understand the meaning of paintings easier, and at the same time Western people can understand Chinese zodiac better. This case demonstrates the way to 11

13 connect different cultures finding similarities of the meanings between different figures or cultural events. Pic.11 Chinese zodiac trail For instance, one exhibition held by National Gallery named Chinese Zodiac Trail is an excellent example to introduce Chinese traditional culture through known knowledge of western audience. In Chinese astrology, the calendar has a 12-year cycle, and each year is represented by an animal. People born in a given year are said to have personality traits associated with that year s animal sign. Meanwhile, in European painting, these animals have similar or contrasting meanings, inherited through myth, folklore and religious teaching how do they compare? Such as the Chinese dragon, it is a positive symbol of good luck and success. The dragon represents extraordinary achievement, and the Chinese are described as descendents of the dragon. In the past, the dragon was associated with the emperor, and images of it were restricted to the imperial court. People born in the year of the dragon are charismatic, eccentric and full of life. A popular saying in China is to wish my son to be a dragon', whereas in European you might wish your child to be the gallant knight. For better understanding, the National Gallery compares it with the Christian story of Saint George. It is a classic tale of good triumphing over evil: a knight in shining armour rescues the princess from being eaten by the menacing dragon. In Christian symbolism, the dragon represents the devil, and is therefore a figure of fear and destruction. The word comes from draco, the Latin for snake, and these two creatures are often confused with one another. In this painting, a spiralling cloud hovers above the dragon-slayer, perhaps suggesting a heavenly force giving George strength in his battle against evil. 12

14 To sum up, completed Chinese translation is essential for spreading general story; and searching the way of abridging the cultural barriers is vital for getting more people acknowledged, understand and engaged. 4.3 Less accessible physical engagement There is no interactive device in NG. Physical engagement is one of methods to let people feel joyful and involved. 4.4 Lack of physical or digital supplements Touch Screen Using finger to glide the screen The glided area shows the original color Pic. 12 Imagined change of current exhibition Sunflowers There are no official Chinese apps of NG can help audiences to get further information of paintings, or architectures, or the history of NG. From this point, establishing an informative and user-friendly app could be a good solution. As for physical supplements, guided bookmarks may better than traditional maps or guided book because the bookmarks not only can be utilized as portable maps, they can also get visitors a personalized experience if there is a place that can be stamped by NG or can be signed by visitors. 13

15 Suggested Collections Suggested Routine Multiple types of bookmarks can be produced for meeting the needs of different groups of people Pic. 13 Guided bookmarks 5. Conclusion This report researches the Chinese market of the National Gallery, points out the strength and drawbacks of online and offline experience, and suggests some possible solutions. It is hoped that the mentioned suggestion will promote a common understanding on how international visitors feel about NG and how to attract more overseas visitors, in this report, Chinese visitors. For both online and offline experience, it suggests that a comprehensive Chinese translation, needs to be revised and completed for meeting the needs of more potential Chinese visitors. Apart from the translation, the most critical issues of the Chinese version website are the reorganization of unfocused structure and the improvement of user experience. And for offline experience, it is principal to let Chinese visitors understand the meaning of paintings so that they can get more involved in. By doing so, potential Chinese visitors are more likely satisfied with their experience both online and offline. References 14

16 Falk, J. H. (2009). Identity and the museum visitor experience. Left Coast Press. GABRIELS, K., LUYTEN, K., ROBERT, K., SCHROYEN, J., TEUNKENS, D., CONINX, K.,... & Manshoven, E. (2009). The Design of Context-Specific Educational Mobile Games. National Gallery. Understanding Cultural Consumers Online Project Brief. Websites Ai Weiwei: Sunflower seeds Chinese zodiac trail Masterpieces of Chinese Painting Travelling to the Wonderland: A new installation by Xu Bing Tripadvisor National_Gallery-London_England.html 到 到 网 London_England.html 穷 游 网 携 程 蚂 蜂 窝 去 哪 儿? Talks Tracy Chevalier: Finding the story inside the painting To hear this music you have to be there. Literally 15