International Museum Day was launched in 1977 by the International Council of Museums and since 2009, China has chosen a host venue each year as the center of numerous nationwide activities celebrating the event.

This year, the Capital Museum in China's capital Beijing was the main venue for International Museum Day, which took place on May 18.

"The Future of Museums: Recover and Reimagine" was the theme of this year's global celebration.

Despite the impact of COVID-19 last year, the museums in Shinan district in Qingdao city – in China's East Shandong province – still managed to make progress, seeing increases in the number of museums, artifacts and exhibitions.

Currently, Shinan has more than 40 cultural and museum venues – including 18 registered museums – at the international level, a ratio of one museum to every 30,000 residents.

Now, let's take a look at some of them:

Museum of the Rickshaw Boy

The museum was once the residence of famous Chinese writer Laoshe (or Shu Qingchu), who lived there in the 1930s when he was a teacher at the Chinese Department at the National Shandong University. At the time, Laoshe wrote the novel Rickshaw Boy and other memorable literary works, such as Dr Wen and My Whole Life. 

The Museum of the Rickshaw Boy, at No 12 Huangxian Road in Shinan, is China's first professional museum named after a famous literary work. [Photo/WeChat account: qdweishinan]

Qingdao Posts & Telecommunications Museum

The museum's premise, built more than a hundred years ago in 1901, is located at No 5 Anhui Road, Shinan. The building was previously the location of the Jiao'ao (Qingdao's ancient name) German Empire Post Office. [Photo/WeChat account: qdweishinan]

Visitors are able to visit three levels of the building. On the first floor is a reception hall and souvenir shops. The second floor is the main exhibition hall, with displays of 1,000 historical relics and more than 2,000 pictures. The top floor, dubbed "tower 1901", is home to the only wooden tower that is more than 100 years old in the city.

Qingdao 1907 Movie Museum

The museum contains more than 1,000 items including film documents, film posters and filmmaking equipment. [Photo/WeChat account: qdweishinan]

This museum, covering more than 1,000 square meters, is located on the third floor of the 1907 Movie Club, the former site of the Seaman's Club. The Seamen's Club, built in 1902, was the home of the first cinema in China.