According to the Hunan Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage, Hunan's main venue events for the 2026 International Museum Day will be held in Huaihua on May 14. The International Museum Day is observed every year on May 18.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), and the theme for this year is "Museums Uniting a Divided World."

This year's main venue events in Hunan will include an opening ceremony, academic seminars, public services, and displays of cultural creative products, featuring both professional and public engagement. At the opening ceremony, the Hunan Provincial Museum Development Report 2025 will be released. The final results of provincial museum (memorial hall) cultural creative products promotion and exhibition during the 14th Five-Year Plan period will be announced, and awards will be presented. The second batch of provincial rural museums and similar institutions will be officially recognized. And a signing ceremony for cross-sector cooperation in the cultural and museum sectors will also take place. During academic seminar sessions, renowned experts and scholars from China's culture and museum sector will be invited to engage in in-depth discussions on cutting-edge topics such as digital and intelligent empowerment, community services, and cultural communication.

Public benefit activities will be held, including free cultural relic appraisal, intangible cultural heritage (ICH) exhibitions and hands-on experiences, and a cultural creative products market. These initiatives aim to bring knowledge of cultural relics, ICH skills, and high-quality cultural creative products closer to the public, bridging the "last mile" of cultural accessibility for the people.

Located at the junction of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, Guizhou, and Guangxi, Huaihua is home to the Gaomiao Site—a crucial cradle of rice cultivation civilization dating back approximately 7,400 years. Here, the Wuxi Culture, red or revolutionary culture, railway culture, and hybrid rice culture blend and coexist, serving as a vivid testament to the diverse yet integrated Chinese civilization. In recent years, Huaihua has seized the opportunity presented by the provincial reform of the "provincial-municipal coordination" system for museums. The city has constructed a new municipal museum to high standards and meticulously curated distinctive exhibitions such as "The Region of Five Tributaries Beyond Scenic Landscape." Since its opening, the museum has welcomed over 450,000 visits.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government. www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Xiao Juan

Chinese source: hunantoday