Museum expo aims to strengthen intl exchanges

The 11th Chinese Exposition of Museums and Relevant Products and Technologies opened on Friday in the coastal city of Haikou, capital of Hainan province, with Egypt serving as the expo's first-ever country of honor — a move that experts said signals a broader push to strengthen international museum exchanges.

As the largest and most influential expo in China's museum sector, the event has been held biennially since 2004. This year, it brings together almost 600 museums and around 200 cultural heritage-related enterprises in Haikou, showcasing cutting-edge advances in the protection of cultural relics, digital museums, exhibition display technology and cultural creative products.

The theme this year is "Museums for High-Quality Development: Empowering with Technology, Connecting with the Future".

The four-day event features 12 thematic areas, including achievements in museum development, digital and intelligent technologies, international exhibitors, non-State-owned museums and cultural heritage corporations.

The expo introduced a country-of-honor mechanism, with Egypt serving in this capacity. Three major Egyptian cultural institutions — the Grand Egyptian Museum, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization — are taking part in the international exhibitors' area. French institutions, including Universcience — Cite des Sciences et de l'Industrie in Paris, are also exhibiting.

Guan Qiang, president of the Chinese Museums Association, said that while the expo had previously hosted foreign museums, no participating nation had been given the status of a country of honor. By introducing this format, the organizers hope to strengthen future exchanges with the museum sectors of other countries.