TAIYUAN, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Visiting museums has become a new holiday fashion among young Chinese people, as more travelers got off the beaten track during the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday to enjoy culture and history rather than overcrowded tourist spots.

Ahead of the "super golden week," online tickets for popular Chinese museums, such as the National Museum of China and the Palace Museum in Beijing, and the Shanxi Museum in the northern province of Shanxi, sold out quickly.

"I feel really lucky to have secured a ticket for the National Day!" said a visitor in her early 30s, surnamed Wang, from the eastern Chinese city of Fuzhou, who visited the Shanxi Museum on Oct. 1.

For many young visitors, museums offer not only a cultural enrichment journey that transcends time and space, but also a peaceful and therapeutic retreat from the holiday bustle.

"I like to come here for a walk when I feel stressed," said a 30-year-old surnamed Wang, who works for an internet company, when visiting the Jinci Museum in Shanxi's provincial capital of Taiyuan. "Gazing at these millennia-old buildings and reflecting on how ancient people created such marvels with so little help put my own troubles into perspective."

Some visitors want to make their museum visits more fun and personal by creating humorous memes based on artifacts in the museums and purchasing creative cultural products from museums.

At the Shanxi Museum, stuffed toys shown sleeping cozily in a pouch, were a particular hit with visitors during the holiday.

Qiu Ping, deputy director of the Jinci Museum, noticed the changing behaviors of young visitors. "They are no longer satisfied with just walking through exhibits -- they do homework on the museums in advance and are not shy to discuss with the museum guides and ask questions about the exhibits' cultural significance."

This shift from passive observation to active participation reflects the growing interest of China's younger generation in traditional culture, Qiu said.

On Xiaohongshu, a popular Chinese lifestyle-sharing platform, posts tagged "museum" have exceeded 11 million, as many young people share their museum experiences.

Technology is also adding new dimensions to the museum experience. At the Taiyuan Northern Qi Dynasty Mural Museum, visitors can don VR headsets to experience the grandeur of ancient banquets, while interactive projection walls enable them to play music alongside musicians in the murals with a simple wave of the hand.

Wang Jiang, the museum's director, said the venue aims to create immersive experiences for visitors using technologies such as digital imaging and 3D animation.

The move has helped the Taiyuan Northern Qi Dynasty Mural Museum attract more young visitors, as those under 30 accounted for more than 60 percent of all bookings at the museum during the holiday, according to the museum's data. ■