On September 17, the Shenyang 'September 18' History Museum announced that on September 18 it will extend opening hours to 12:00–20:00 (last entry at 19:30) to meet visitor demand for commemoration. The museum will implement dynamic crowd control and, upon reaching maximum capacity, will admit visitors in batches. Visitors are asked to follow on-site staff guidance, observe museum rules, and maintain order.
On 28 September, the new building of Dongguan Museum officially began trial operation. Located at the south square of Dongguan Central Square and positioned as a 'regional central museum of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area', it was designed by a team led by Chinese Academy of Engineering academician He Jingtang, with a total floor area of about 40,000 square metres. It has 10 exhibition halls and nine exhibitions during trial operation across seven exhibition brands, two of which are paid special exhibitions.
During the Mid-Autumn holiday, localities across Hubei launched over 1,000 cultural-tourism events, with night tourism, folk customs, museums and consumer benefits as highlights. Wuhan held a themed intangible-heritage event with a market covering 20 heritage items including Han embroidery. Yichang arranged activity sites along riverside landmarks, drawing about 500,000 visitors during the holiday. Over the three-day holiday, museums provincewide received 717,500 visitors, added nearly 200 special exhibitions and libraries held over 200 events.
The 2026 Beijing Culture Forum, themed 'Cultural Heritage and Mutual Learning Among Civilizations,' was held in Beijing on September 22-23, with over 600 guests from 44 countries and regions. Discussions covered systematic heritage protection, international cooperation and ancient capital preservation. Beijing presented its regulatory planning system and Central Axis protection experience. National Cultural Heritage Administration data showed 7,188 registered museums in 2025, over 91% free to enter, receiving 1.56 billion visits, with national archaeological site parks increasing to 65. Participants also discussed heritage utilization, technology empowerment and balancing tourism developmen…
On September 25, the "Glorious Imperial Vessels: Beijing Cloisonne Court Art Special Exhibition," jointly hosted by the Prince Gong's Mansion Museum under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Beijing Enamel Factory Co., Ltd., opens in the East Zone 2 gallery of the Prince Gong's Mansion Museum, showing nearly 58 replica works of representative Yuan, Ming and Qing cloisonne objects plus original works by contemporary arts and crafts masters. Three sections trace the craft's development. Cloisonne-making was inscribed on the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2006. The exhibition runs to December 6, closed Mondays, with master lectures and hands-on craft experiences.
From 25 September, the exhibition 'Resplendent Imperial Vessels, Glorious Revival: Beijing Cloisonne Court Art' will open in the East Zone 2 gallery of the Prince Gong's Mansion Museum, co-hosted by the museum under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Beijing Enamel Factory Co., Ltd. It displays replicas of representative Yuan, Ming and Qing cloisonne objects and nearly 58 original works by contemporary master craftspeople. Three sections trace the craft's development, and the exhibition runs until 6 December, closed on Mondays. Master lectures and hands-on craft experiences will also be offered during the run.
Xinhua reports that the 'September 18' History Museum, located on Wanghua South Street in Dadong District, Shenyang, is marked by a giant damaged calendar monument frozen on September 18, 1931. The museum presents a complete historical chain from the outbreak of the incident, the fall of Northeast China, the anti-Japanese struggle, the victory of the war, to the just trial of war criminals, using restored scenes, multimedia, and oral histories. Artifacts include a blue cloth bag embroidered with 'TRUTH' and over 400 pages of handwritten Chinese-English materials. Visits surge around September 18 each year.
On September 17, the special exhibition 'Gods of Angkor: Millennial Treasures of the Khmer Empire' opened at the Hunan Museum, featuring over 150 pieces (sets) of treasures from the National Museum of Cambodia, the Angkor Conservation Depot, and several Chinese museums. The exhibition is divided into four sections: Origins: Roots of Khmer, Heyday: City of Gods, Dialogue: Buddhist Light Interplay, and Immersive Digital Display, and will run until March 21, 2027. The fourth section uses digital imagery, 3D modeling animation and AI to create an immersive space, and cultural products such as chibi-style statues are offered.
The Jiangkou Sunken Silver Museum in Pengshan District, Meishan, Sichuan, covers about 13.3 hectares with 3 permanent exhibition halls and 1 temporary hall, and an exhibition area of 7,270.27 square meters. Positioned around the theme of a century's great archaeological discovery and new evidence of Ming Dynasty China, it displays over 76,000 artifacts recovered from the Jiangkou late-Ming battlefield site. Since ticket sales began in April, by the end of August it had received over 320,000 visitors, with a single-day peak of 8,200, generating over 13 million yuan in revenue. The museum offers digital interactive projects including a large-space VR experience, immersive script tour, and the…
The 26th session of the Standing Committee of the 16th Beijing Municipal People's Congress conducted a second review of the Beijing Museum Regulations (Draft). Building on the first draft's encouragement of extended and staggered opening, the second draft sets firmer requirements: during national statutory holidays and school winter and summer vacations, museums should open normally, and municipal first-class national museums should adopt extended and staggered opening hours. The draft also encourages free public access with necessary funding support from municipal and district governments; museums should provide free guided tours at fixed times or via information technology, encourage dire…
The China Gold Museum in Jiapigou town, Huadian city, Jilin province, began trial operation on the 9th. Jiapigou has over 200 years of gold-mining history and is known as China's first gold mine; in 1820 prospectors traveled upstream along the Weisha River to start local gold mining, and at its peak the area had 40,000 to 50,000 miners. Built by China Gold Group, the museum is described as China's only dual-theme museum of gold industry and revolutionary history, drawing on more than 2,000 exhibits and hundreds of historical images, and using century-old abandoned mine tunnels to create a 680-meter underground rail tour line. Huadian is building a gold-themed route around the museum and sev…
China Tourism News reported that the 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services opened on September 9 at Shougang Park in Beijing, with themed zones showcasing traditional-style and trendy cultural-creative products. The Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks said its zone gathered 13 categories and nearly 700 products, with 28 new items launched during CIFTIS. Beijing Zoo, marking its 120th anniversary, brought nearly 70 products. The Beijing cultural-relics zone gathered new products from major museums, and the Beijing Yanjing Eight Crafts Museum displayed products using eight traditional techniques including gold inlay, filigree, and cloisonne. The Tongzhou zone launch…
The Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau responded to a petition on the guide-service clauses of the draft Beijing Museum Regulation, confirming that all 52 related opinions received during the public consultation from June 16 to July 19, 2026 were adopted. Restrictive wording in Articles 34 and 46, including the requirement that group or commercial tours may not be conducted without museum consent, was deleted to remove market-access barriers and ensure fair participation by market entities in museum interpretation services. The revised draft has been submitted to the Beijing Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee for review.
The Jilin Provincial Government announced that the China Gold Museum will open on September 19 in Jiapigou Town, Huadian City. Built on the site of the 'China's First Gold Mine' Jiapigou Gold Mine, it covers a total land area of 19,700 sqm and a building area of 13,000 sqm, making it the first museum in China with dual themes of gold industry and red history. The first phase investment is 164 million yuan. Jilin Province also launched a 'Golden Jilin' preferential policy involving 29 scenic spots.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the Measures for the Management of Museum Collections, effective November 1, 2026. The measures cover collection acquisition, registration, storage management, conservation and utilization, and legal liabilities, requiring museums to establish comprehensive management systems to ensure collection safety.
This commentary discusses the trend of museums and scenic spots encouraging visitors to find errors, noting that while rewarding fault-finding is good, the responsibility for content review cannot be shifted to the public. The National Cultural Heritage Administration has issued a notice requiring museums to be the responsible entity for reviewing exhibition content and not to outsource or delegate this responsibility. The article emphasizes that self-review is the fundamental solution.
The China Tourism Academy and Liangye Technology Group released the 2025 China Night Economy Development Report. From January to October 2025, nighttime spending accounted for 32.9% of tourists' total daily spending nationwide, with nighttime transactions at 28.3%. Demand-side trends center on three value dimensions: diversity, novelty, and social connection. On the supply side, 66.9% of 5A scenic areas offered nighttime opening, and first-class museums' nighttime opening rate rose to 37.6% during summer and holidays; 47.5% of nighttime-open 5A scenic areas achieved full coverage of food, lodging, transport, sightseeing, shopping, and entertainment.