Exhibition jogs nation's collective memory

The Chinese abacus, zhusuan, was listed as an intangible cultural heritage at the eighth annual UNESCO World Heritage Congress in 2013.

Yin's son, who was born in 1995, showed little interest in his mother's work items, but he could not take his eyes off several tape recorders.

"We listened to tapes in English class, like all children at the time," he said.

His peer, Li Yimeng, a 20-something who has just gained a master's, has a special feeling for tapes and recorders: "The tapes matched my Chinese and English textbooks, and I listened to them every day during middle school."

In 1963, the role of tapes was expanded from data storage to playing music, and they were later replaced by MP3, MP4 and mobile phones.

"I can recall the lyrics and text shining on the screen of the MP3 and MP4 players as I listened to music and read stories from textbooks," Li Yimeng recalled.

"Now, all you need is a smartphone, which gives everyone access to learning materials anywhere. People don't have to sift through tapes and play them in order, which saves time. As technology progressed rapidly, tape recorders faded out of our lives," she said.

A taste from childhood

During the exhibition's opening ceremony, visitors were each given a string of candied haws made by Song to revive a favorite childhood taste.

However, he wasn't trying to show off his skills by filling the room with fragrant smells and sweet flavors. Instead, he simply wanted to attract more children to the event so they could see the redundant items.

"I don't feel privileged about my family background, and I have never thought of making a fortune from my collection. I love traditional culture and my original inspiration was to spread it by collecting as many old-fashioned objects as possible and showing them to people to illustrate the country's rich culture," he said.