China sees growth of museums, visitors

The number of museums registered in China reached 4,165 in 2013, up 299 from the previous year, according to new figures revealed on Sunday, the International Museum Day.

Li Xiaojie, head of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, pointed to the increasing privatization of China's museums. Some 811, or about 19.4 percent, of the museums are not state-owned, compared to 16.7 percent in 2012, he said at a ceremony to mark the celebration in Nanjing Museum of east China's Jiangsu Province.

According to a report released by the Ministry of Culture on Thursday, China witnessed 637.77 million museum visits in 2013, 13.1 percent more than the previous year.

Li said museums are bridges between people and cultures in different times, and they are playing an increasingly important role in Chinese people's lives.

Besides the rapid growth in the number of museums and museum visits, the variety of exhibitions and educational activities held in the museums have been growing and featuring more regional and international exchanges, factors which have helped attract greater numbers of visitors, according to Li.