The China National Silk Museum held the Award Ceremony for the 2nd Silk Road Online Curating Competition on the evening of July 12, 2023. Launched in May this year, the competition is co-organized by Shanghai University with support from Manycore Tech Inc. Contrasting with the inaugural competition in 2022, this year has a Maritime Silk Road theme and museums with related collections including Guangzhou Maritime Museum, Quanzhou Maritime Museum, Zhangzhou Museum, China Port Museum in Ningbo, and Wenzhou Museum were all invited to contribute resources from their online collections.

The competition attracted participants from over 51 universities including Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, Nanjing University, University of Bologna, University College London, among many others, as well as nine museums and numerous designers. Participants were divided into two groups, namely, Museum Group and Design Group, who produced 98 online exhibitions.

Among the 98 exhibitions, it was noteworthy that more diverse themes related to the Maritime Silk Road were chosen by contestants this year, including themes such as the protection and conservation of Maritime Silk Road artifacts, music culture communication, maritime city cultures, porcelain, trade and economic exchange, maritime animals, and maritime cuisine. One example was an exhibition telling the story of Xu Fu, a Chinese alchemist and explorer who was sent on two occasions by the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty between 300-200 BC to voyage the eastern seas in search for the elixir of life.

The competitions are powered by the Silk Road Online Museum (SROM) platform, a platform with main concepts focusing on digital collaboration and 3D online curating. Since its launch in 2021 until June 2023, the SROM platform received a total of 70,000 registered users and 30,000 participants, while presenting 281 digital exhibitions and attracting 670,000 visitors. Moreover, the number of digital artifacts on the platform has increased from 2,000 pieces to 5,800 pieces, hailing from over 55 museums worldwide.

During the Award Ceremony, competition winners also enjoyed performances and lectures themed on the keywords of 2023 Silk Road Week, Dunhuang and Hungary. Traditional Chinese folk music performances and modern dancing were also presented. The night on SROM has already established itself as a must-attend annual feast for museum curating students and lovers globally.