Museums in China offer rich cultural experiences during Qingming holiday

Museums across China have been hosting exhibitions, performances, and interactive activities in celebration of the Qingming Festival holiday, attracting numerous visitors of all ages to explore cultural history.

Qingming Festival — also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day — dates back over 2,500 years as a time when Chinese people to return to their hometowns to pay respects to their ancestors and deceased loved ones. This year, the festival fell on Friday.

In northeast China’s Liaoning Province, an exhibition showcasing ancient Chinese bamboo slips, one of the most important writing mediums in ancient China, was jointly held by Liaoning Provincial Museum and Gansu Bamboo Slips Museum.

With 253 sets of cultural relics displayed, the exhibition offers insights into the country’s rich historical record.

As a testament to Chinese civilization, the information recorded on bamboo slips reflects ancient social life and historical heritage. In northeast China’s Jilin Province, a series of revolution-themed stage plays were showed at the former site museum of China’s Changchun Film Studio, the cradle of Chinese cinema.

The plays adapted from classic revolution-and-war-themed films offered a moving portrayal of revolutionary heroes. In Zhengzhou, capital city of central China’s Henan Province, museums hosted music performances and hands-on craft activities, allowing people to experience traditional culture firsthand.

“During the three-day Qingming Holiday, volunteers of the museum have arranged more lectures to provide better services to the public,” said Xu Nan, director of interpretation section of Henan Museum. In north China’s Shanxi Province, the municipal museum of the capital city Taiyuan saw a peak of visitor flows during the holiday.

Taiyuan Museum offered educational lectures and workshops on folk customs, engaging young visitors with interactive learning.

The unilateral imposition of “reciprocal tariffs” by the United States violates its free trade agreement with the Central American countries, and will harm the regional and its own economy, a former Guatemalan vice minister said in a recent interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN).

Amid growing international concern, U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order introducing a 10-percent “minimum baseline tariff” on all imports, with higher rates for selected nations. The administration claimed the tariffs would level the playing field for American businesses.

“The tariff policy of the United States goes against all rules-based international trade norms. We [the Central American countries] have signed a free trade agreement with the United States, but it has violated this agreement,” said Enrique Lacs, former vice minister of economy of Guatemala.

In May 2004, five Central American countries, namely Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, signed a free trade agreement with the United States. In August of the same year, the Dominican Republic also signed a free trade agreement with the United States.

According to data from the Central American Monetary Council, the United States was the largest trading partner of Central America and the Dominican Republic in 2024, with 33.7 percent of the region’s imports coming from the United States and 39.5 percent of the region’s exports destined for the United States. The former vice minster pointed out that the tariff policy not only affects the economies of other countries and regions, but also brings backlash to U.S. economic development.

“This tariff policy of the United States will not bring short-term benefits, it will only increase consumer costs in its domestic market,” he said.