There are 1,517 museums now in China. Local non-governmental museums included, the number of museums nationwide has reached some 2,000. With a collection of over 20 million items, these museums hold more than 8,000 exhibitions every year. Some museums of cultural relics, such as the Museum of Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses in Xi'an, have become internationally known tourist attractions. The government encourages exchanges of cultural relics exhibitions between museums and promotes the display and exchanges of legal non-governmental collections. Beijing, as the capital of China, has 123 museums, with an annual number of over 30 million visitors.

By 2015, China will build 1,000 more museums on top of what it has already, meaning that almost every city above medium size will possess a comprehensive museum.