Chinese cultural relics turned into memes

Users of China's Weibo social media platform have reacted to the re-imagining of historic cultural artefacts as online jokes.

To mark International Museum Day, Sina Breaking News posted pictures of cultural relics with meme-style text overlaid, which have since been widely shared.

Some social media users saw the funny side but others claimed they were "insulting".

Most of the memes have been in circulation for a number of years, but they have gained renewed attention after the Chinese news organisation shared the images with their 52 million followers.

'Give me five!'

These figurines apparently sharing a high five are on display in Beijing's Palace Museum. Dating from the Tang dynasty (618 to 907 AD), they are fashioned in painted pottery.

According to the museum's website the figurines' "costume and posture" suggest they are likely "to be performing what is known as a soft dance... belonging to ethnic Han peoples".

The museum does not specify if high fives are a traditional component of the dance.

'Aaah???'

This pottery statue of a man's head is thousands of years old, dating from the neolithic era. The meme text translates in English to 'Aaah???', which is probably an appropriate response to being thousands of years old.

It is housed in the Shaanxi History Museum in central China.

'Were you speaking? I wasn't listening'

According to the Zhejiang library, this figure is also housed in the Beijing Palace Museum.

The library's website says the figure dates from the Qing dynasty, which spanned from the mid-17th Century until 1912 and depicts a "Lohan sitting figure".

A Lohan (or luohan) is one who has attained enlightenment, or is far along the path towards it.

So unless you are too, the figure here could probably be forgiven for not listening.

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The images posted by Sina Breaking News this week have attracted tens of thousands of shares, likes and comments, with many Weibo users unimpressed.

One top-rated comment asked: "Is spoofing cultural relics illegal?"

"Please delete this immediately," another user said, while further comments suggested the post was "insulting to artefacts" and "an insult to [Chinese] culture".

However, others found the memes "cute" and funny.

The debate comes in the wake of an incident in Beijing's Forbidden City earlier in May.

Tourists were warned not to steal rocks after one posted a picture of souvenirs she had taken from the grounds of the palace complex.

Many social media users condemned the incident at the time.