BEIJING — An average of one new museum was opened every two days across China between 2016 and 2020, Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Li Qun said on May 18.

By the end of 2020, China was home to 5,788 museums that had been registered with authorities, with 1,224 museums at the state level, said Li, also head of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, at an event in Beijing marking International Museum Day on May 18.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, museums across the country last year presented more than 29,000 exhibitions and held over 225,000 education-related activities, Li said.

The museums also recorded approximately 540 million visits and provided online services to hundreds of millions of people, he said.

Themed "future of museums: recover and reimagine," this year's event not only focused on the conceptual, operational and technical aspects of museums but also discussed a new approach to meet the challenges in the post-pandemic era, he added.