Souvenirs offered at the expo in Chengdu. (Photo by Wang Kaihao/China Daily)
E Jun, director of Gansu Museum in Northwest China, says: "Due to dated systems, it was difficult to form regional museum alliances before."
However, things have changed in recent years.
From 2014 to 2015, Silk Road, a major exhibition reflecting the history of the ancient trade route, was displayed at Beijing's National Museum of China, which gathered key collections from 44 museums across the country.
Another show, Sailing Far and Wide on the Sea on Maritime Silk Road, brought collections from 51 museums to the Capital Museum in 2014.
"These exhibitions created new models for cooperation among Chinese museums in terms of personnel, information and academic research," says E.
Today's cooperation has gone beyond borders. Duan says there were about 100 exhibitions held jointly by China and different countries in 2015, which also partially explains why museum visitor Ai feels "many exhibitions from all over the world" are available in China. Consequently, Chinese museums also provide experiences for foreign cultural institutions.
"New museums are being built by the day (in China)," Suay Aksoy, president of the International Council of Museums, who attended the expo at Chengdu, tells China Daily.
"Museums are working with good architects. It's remarkable to see so many Chinese museums cooperate for one exhibition, which is difficult in other countries.
"And it's a good thing that Chinese museums are developing apps and online exhibitions because it will attract and educate more people.
"Only when you see and handle the objects, can you really know about the past," he says of the physical importance of relics.
Nevertheless, some professionals fear that an overheating of the sector will lead to problems.
"Sometimes a big museum is built even before the outline of an exhibition is drafted, which will obviously lead to empty halls," says Wu Xi, a veteran exhibition designer for a studio affiliated to Tsinghua University in Beijing.
"There is still much to learn from Western museums in creating an attractive atmosphere for visitors.
"We'd better think twice about what is needed by visitors and what we can give before opening a museum."
Ai considers it equally important to improve visitors' behaviors to add to an exhibition's success.
"It's often seen that some people use camera flashes and selfie sticks in exhibitions, which greatly affects the viewing experiences of others."
