There are 2,200 museums in China, including 625 non-governmental museums. With a total collection surpassing 20 million items, these museums hold more than 8,000 exhibitions a year. Museums based on cultural relics, like the Museum of the Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses in Xi'an, have become a fixture on tourist itineraries. The government encourages exchange and exhibitions of cultural relics between museums and the display and exchange of legal non-governmental collections too. Beijing, as China's capital and cultural center, has 129 museums, receiving more than 30 million visitors a year.

By 2015, China will build 1,000 additional museums, so that every city above medium size possesses one comprehensive museum.