Treasures on show at the Palace Museum in Beijing include the early 12th-century masterpiece, A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains, and ancient clay figurines. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

A documentary on cultural relic restorers, Masters in the Forbidden City, went viral online and even sparked a rise in the number of people applying for jobs at the museum last year.

"The old ways must be improved to enable visitors to 'take the museum home'," he says. "People want behind-the-scenes stories."

Shan also wants visitors to enjoy the Forbidden City experience. More areas in the world's largest imperial architecture complex, covering 720,000 square meters, have been unlocked in the past five years.

In 2012, less than half of the Palace Museum was accessible to the public, largely due to safety concerns, as many of the old palace buildings were in a state of disrepair.

But with more buildings being renovated－it was 76 percent last year, and is projected to cross 85 percent in 2020－more areas "suitable for opening-up" will no longer be forbidden.

The Meridian Gate Gallery, just above the entrance of the museum, for example, was unlocked in 2015 to create a 2,800-square-meter space to display treasures including A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains.

"In the past, people used to walk along the complex's axis and didn't spare much time on the exhibition hall," says Shan.

"But things have changed now. As there are more places to see in the Forbidden City, the axis is also less crowded."

According to Shan, from the 80,000 visitors to the museum daily, 10,000 climb up to the Meridian Gate Gallery.

Meanwhile, a research academy was also established at the museum in 2013 to use academic resources beyond its red walls. And many retired researchers from the museum and scholars from other institutions were invited to join inter-disciplinary studies at the academy, which has more than 20 departments.