China's museum craze continues to grow strong

China continues to see a museum craze with 6,833 registered museums across the country — increased by 267 over the past year, according to statistics released by the National Cultural Heritage Administration on Saturday, the International Museum Day.

In the past year, more than 40,000 exhibitions and 380,000 educational activities in museums across the country have attracted 1.29 billion visits, surpassing the number of 2019 at 1.23 billion before the COVID-19 pandemic, as Li Qun, director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, revealed on the celebration for the International Museum Day. The number of annual visit also set a new record.

The celebration this year was set at the Shaanxi History Museum Qin-Han Hall in Xixian New Area, Shaanxi province.

The Shaanxi History Museum Qin-Han Hall was thoroughly opened to the public on Saturday after months' trial operation. As a new branch of the Shaanxi History Museum, it is specially dedicated to the civilizations of Qin (221-206 BC) and Han (206 BC-AD 220) dynasties, a key period when a united Chinese nation was formed.

During the Labor Day holiday from May 1 to 5, museums in China attracted more than 50 million visits.

In order to enhance the public's attention and participation in going to museums, the International Council of Museums set May 18 as the International Museum Day every year since 1977. China has organized activities on this day after joined the council in 1983 and started to choose one main venue every year as center of the series celebrations from 2009.

Highlighted exhibitions, forums and performances were among the various celebration activities across China for this day.