The Hangzhou Museum, founded in 2001, is home to over 10,000 cultural relics tracing East China’s rich history. It also hosted recently an episode of the reality show Running Man, a move that attracted online outrage for possibly putting the artefacts at risk. Running Man—or Benpaoba, Xiongdi in Mandarin—is a popular variety show on Zhejiang Television based on a Korean programme of the same name. An episode aired last month featured celebrities and tabloid favorites like Lu Han, Angelababy, and Zheng Kai competing in a scavenger hunt through the museum for the “black man”, guest star actor Chen Lianzhou (so-called because of his darker skin). The contestants’ running and roughhousing in exhibition halls veered precariously close to cases. But show producers responded that ample preparations were made, including training of participants to ensure that no damage to exhibits occurred during the filming, reported the Guangzhou Daily newspaper (phew).
