Flash animation's 'living' emperor goes viral

"My feet itch." [Flash by the Palace Museum]

A group of Flash animations that bring the Emperor Yongzheng (1678-1735) to "life" has gone viral online. Internet users say the emperor is "cute".

The Flash animations were made by technicians from the Palace Museum, based on the Paintings of Amusement of Emperor Yongzheng. In the animations, the emperor washes his feet on a riverside, fights with a tiger and shoots a bird. Interesting captions accompany the computer graphics.

Since the group was uploaded on Aug 1, it has received more than 800,000 hits and attracted many comments.

Sina Weibo user JIaGerr said, "When I saw the original painting, I felt sour for the Emperor Yongzheng who worked so hard and only had little amusement. But after I saw the flash I suddenly felt the emperor was so cute…"

Another said, "Even though the emperor owned the whole nation, maybe he just wanted to have fun like ordinary people."

Yu Zhuang, the team leader of the group that designed the Flash animations, said they didn't expect they would attract so much attention. They intended to promote people's understanding of the culture of the Palace Museum. More apps such as A Day of an Emperor are under way.