Management of Palace Museum must rein in commercial activities

THE PALACE MUSEUM IN BEIJING STARTED PROMOTING a range of cosmetics earlier this month, and they have proved to be very popular. Beijing News comments:

Last year, the overall revenue of the museum from sales of branded products was 1.5 billion yuan ($218 million). Although that is less than 10 percent of its revenue from selling tickets, it is growing quickly.

The museum was China's imperial palace from 1420 to 1911. It houses 1.86 million cultural relics that are a treasure trove of inspiration for developing commercial products.