Guangming Daily reporter Li Jianbin Guangming Daily correspondent Di Yue
At the beginning of the day, the hustle and bustle of the day gradually subsides. There is a constant flow of people in the exhibition hall of the Liaoning Provincial Museum. Thousand-year-old cultural relics silently dialogue with today's people under the soft light; the lights in the Liaoning Provincial Library are brightly lit, guarding a tranquility for night readers…
This spring, Liaoning Cultural Museum has quietly adjusted its "schedule" and gently injected the light of cultural services into the city's night. This revolution in public services with time as the fulcrum may seem like just a small shift on the clock, but in fact it is re-weaving the texture of the city at night, depicting a vivid picture of cultural people, industry and culture, and a city nourished by culture.
When delaying, pay attention to it: Accurately connect with people’s life clocks
In the evening, Mr. Zhang, a citizen, and his elementary school-aged son stopped in front of the Liaoning Expo booth: "I used to regret not being able to catch up after get off work, but now walking around the venue after dinner has become a 'compulsory course' for my family." At this time, there were still nearly a thousand visitors in the museum, and the guide's voice could be clearly heard in the exhibition hall.
Time and space "match watch" life and serve "match taste" needs. After the national "Several Policies and Measures on Expanding Service Consumption" was promulgated in 2025, Liaoning quickly formulated "Several Policies and Measures to Promote the High-Quality Development of Provincial Museums" to refine macro policies and create perceptible "time increments" for each cultural museum.
In Shenyang, the Liaoning Provincial Museum implemented "No Closing on Mondays" from January 15 to February 28, and extended the closing time every Friday and Saturday from 17:00 to 19:00, turning on the "ultra-long standby" mode. At the same time, during the winter vacation, the Liaoning Provincial Library will be open until 18:00 on Wednesdays except in the morning. The extended opening areas are concentrated in the most popular Document Lending Center and Children's Service Center. The Shenyang Palace Museum launches a special night tour for the first time from the second to the sixth day of the first lunar month, open from 18:00 to 20:00 every day, allowing the ancient palaces to show a unique charm under the illumination of palace lanterns. The Shenyang "September 18th" History Museum will extend its closing time to 20:00, and the Shenyang Xinle Heritage Museum will open normally on Mondays from January 18 to March 9.
In Anshan, many venues such as Anshan City Museum, Haicheng City Museum, and Taian County Museum have introduced measures to stay open on Mondays and extend their opening hours by one hour. In Benxi, the Northeast Anti-Japanese War Historical Facts Exhibition Hall will not only be open on Mondays during the winter vacation from January 15 to March 1, but also adjust its opening hours to 9:00-17:30 during the Spring Festival to allow more people to enter the museum.
One after another, "time cuts" are aimed at the "life clock" of office workers, students and the general public, allowing public cultural services to truly shift from "I open the door" to "you are available".
The effect of delay is interesting: using traffic to help urban development
The demand-oriented delayed service has received an enthusiastic response beyond expectations, achieving a win-win situation of social and economic benefits. During the 2026 Spring Festival holiday, the Liaoning Provincial Museum received a total of 146,700 visitors, an increase of 26.01% compared with the same period in 2025. Visitors from outside the province accounted for 54.8%. Tourists from Heilongjiang, Jilin, Hebei, Jiangsu, Beijing and other places gathered here, fully demonstrating the cultural attraction of "one museum, one city". Previously, the Shenyang "September 18th" History Museum opened its nightclub for the first time during the National Day holiday in 2025, which attracted more than 10,000 visitors.
The economic spillover effect of delayed service is also significant. Starting from core places such as the Liaoning Provincial Museum and the Shenyang Forbidden City, a vibrant "cultural night economic circle" is booming. The lights in cultural and museum venues ignite the enthusiasm for consumption in surrounding restaurants, bookstores, cultural and creative businesses and other businesses, adding a unique background to the city’s nighttime economic map.
The deeper change lies in the delicate response to the rhythm of urban life and individual spiritual needs. For many strivers, the lights of the Liaoning Provincial Library are the gentle protection given by the city. Ms. Li, who is preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination, goes straight to the library almost every day after work: "This night study provides not only an extra hour, but also a sense of security that can calm the heart. Now it has become a regular study room for many people taking the postgraduate entrance examination and the civil service examination."
At the same time, the nighttime options for culture and leisure are also more colorful. The Shenyang Palace Museum launched the "Danchen New Rhythm" night tour for the first time during the Spring Festival, allowing the ancient palaces to revive in the carefully designed palace lights and shadows. This change is subtly extending the depth and breadth of public culture’s infiltration into people’s lives.
The method of delay, someone said: Mechanism innovation protects the night lights
Extending the opening is by no means a simple action of "opening the door and turning on the lights", but a comprehensive test of the venue's management, operation, and service capabilities. Liaoning's cultural system ensured the high-quality operation of this overtime match with a set of combination punches.
In order to solve the problem of staff stress and fatigue, some places have innovatively adopted the model of "flexible work + time off and compensation + performance incentives". During peak hours, the Liaoning Provincial Museum effectively ensured its service capacity by tapping internal potential, optimizing the "two shifts" schedule, and encouraging research and administrative staff to support the front line. At the same time, Liaoning provides incentives for museums that have achieved remarkable results in delayed openings and cultural and creative development to increase the total amount of performance-based wages, and requires that the allocation be tilted towards front-line employees involved in night services. A researcher who volunteered as a lecturer at Liaobo Nightclub said frankly: "Seeing the eyes of the audience, especially the children, who are hungry for knowledge, all my hard work disappears."
Safety management and control levels will be comprehensively upgraded in all locations. At the level of cultural relic protection, the technical team carried out professional and refined debugging of the night lights, ensuring the viewing effect while strictly controlling the illumination within a safe range.
Specialized service provision is the core embodiment of "no discount on delay". The night show at the Shenyang "September 18th" History Museum is equipped with red film screenings, immersive dramas and other content, making patriotic education more contagious. The first New Year's Eve Carnival Night organized by the Liaoning Provincial Library to "New Year's Eve with Books and New Year's Reading" features immersive level-playing, Guqin live show, intangible cultural heritage handicrafts and other games, turning the library into a cultural space full of fun and warmth at night. Various measures jointly point to one goal: to accurately align the time, space and connotation of public cultural services with the people's "life clock" and "points of interest".
From closing on time to "lighting up for you", the lights of Liaoning Cultural Expo are shining with economic vitality and flowing with the rhythm of culture, warming every soul seeking spiritual residence.
"Guangming Daily" (Page 9, March 17, 2026)
