While artificial intelligence (AI) is being increasingly utilized in the design of museum cultural and creative products (MCCPs), limited research has explored consumer satisfaction with these AI-generated designs. This study quantitatively examined the impact of AI-generated MCCP design on consumer satisfaction and proposed strategies for improvement. A comprehensive evaluation system consisting of fourteen factor indicators across four dimensions was constructed through literature research, user interviews, and expert suggestions. On this basis, a survey with 297 consumers was then conducted using AI-generated cultural and creative products from the Dunhuang Museum. Additionally, the Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA) method was employed to analyze the importance of various factors in these AI-generated designs and their impacts on consumer satisfaction. The findings revealed that, while consumers expressed high satisfaction in terms of product functionality and creative attraction, improvements are needed in cultural expression and user experience. It is recommended that creating a multimodal museum database, developing structured prompt card models, and building an MCCP design platform with full-process AI participation would help to increase consumer satisfaction. This study can provide theoretical and practical references for the intelligent development of MCCPs’ design and promote the sustainable development of cultural heritage.

The majority of China’s intangible cultural heritage is rooted in rural areas, and the integration of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) with rural resources has potential for sustainable development. This study develops a theory of sustainable livelihoods for ICH rural areas, employing design intervention strategies to strengthen core capital, thereby promoting the protection of ICH and the sustainable development of rural areas. Through a case study of China’s ICH, specifically Luanzhou shadow play, this study focuses on core livelihoods capital: design capital and cultural capital. The key elements of the two were analyzed through the use of interviews and questionnaires. The Luanzhou shadow play was redesigned for cultural and creative products and digital application innovation. This approach effectively meets the needs of the target groups and meets the requirements of rural revitalization and ICH, thereby enhancing the adaptability and resilience of rural areas. This study offers a new development path for the heritage of Luanzhou shadow play and local rural areas while also providing a reference for the differentiated development of other non-legacy rural areas.

The development of the Great Wall National Cultural Park has unleashed the potential for integrating cultural and tourism development along the Great Wall. However, ICH along the Great Wall, a key part of its cultural identity, suffers from low recognition and a mismatch between protection and development efforts. This study analyzes provincial-level and above ICH along Hebei’s Great Wall using geospatial tools and the Geographical Detector model to explore distribution patterns and influencing factors, while Geographically Weighted Regression is utilized to reveal spatial heterogeneity. It tests two hypotheses: (H1) ICH shows a clustered pattern; (H2) economic factors have a greater impact than cultural and natural factors. Key findings show: (1) ICH distribution is numerically balanced north–south but spatially uneven, with dense clusters in the south and scattered patterns in the north. (2) ICH and crafts cluster significantly, while dramatic balladry spreads evenly, and other categories are random. (3) Average annual temperature and precipitation have the greatest impact on ICH distribution, with the factors ranked as: natural > cultural > economic. Multidimensional interactions show significant enhancement effects. (4) Influencing factors vary spatially. Population density, transport, temperature, and traditional villages are positively related to ICH. Elevation, precipitation, tourism, and cultural institutions show mixed effects across regions. These insights support targeted ICH conservation and sustainable development in the Great Wall cultural corridor.

The sustainable protection of cultural heritage is essential for the intergenerational transmission of cultural diversity and represents a central theme in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on “heritage resilience governance”. To address the policy sustainability challenges of large-scale linear heritage governance, this study examines the characteristics and shortcomings of Great Wall Cultural Preservation (GWCP) policies during its steady implementation. To analyze how policy instruments are distributed, whether policy objectives are synergistic, and whether stakeholders’ participation is reasonable, this study uses GWCP policy texts issued by China from 2006 to 2024 as research objects and establishes a three-dimensional analytical framework (“instrument–objective–stakeholder”). With the help of the NVivo 20 tool, the study analyzes the policy texts in one dimension and multiple dimensions, and finds that China’s GWCP policy has shortcomings in sustainability governance, such as the imbalance in the use of policy instruments, the overflow of contextual policy instruments, the government’s over-exertion of force, the need to release the functional space of stakeholders, and the lack of attention to the synergy between the goals of conserving architectural heritage and safeguarding the Great Wall ethos. Based on these findings, the study proposes three targeted optimization recommendations. This GWCP case study offers developing nations insights into balancing heritage protection objectives under SDG 11.4 with local development needs.