Museums across China launched themed exhibitions and a series of cultural activities during the just-concluded Spring Festival, garnering more than 72 million visits in the eight-day holiday season.
The Spring Festival, marking the start of the Chinese New Year, is the most important public holiday in China. The official Spring Festival holiday season this year ran from January 28 to February 4.
According to preliminary statistics from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, from the first to the seventh day of the Chinese New Year, namely from January 29 to February 4, museums across the country received 72,648,700 visits, with the average daily number of visits exceeding 10 million, an increase of 12.84 percent over the corresponding period of the previous year.
In Shenyang City of northeast China's Liaoning Province, the Liaoning Provincial Museum handled 116,400 visits during the holiday, an increase of 19.33 percent over the same period of last year. The highlight of the museum is an 8,000-year-old cylindrical pottery jar which has the earliest known snake pattern in China's history.
The Chinese Archaeological Museum in Beijing launched an exhibition showcasing the achievements in scientific research in archaeology and heritage protection, focusing on ancient pottery and jade wares unearthed. The exhibition displays more than 100 important cultural relics including painted pottery of Majiayao culture, an ancient Chinese culture dating back more than 5,000 years.
The National Museum launched a New Year cultural exhibition, which includes the display of national treasure Fu Hao's owl-shaped zun, a Bronze ware from the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046BC), and other cultural relics closely related to the Spring Festival.
"The snake pattern on the owl's wings symbolizes a skyrocketing force which gives it more power," said Zhuge Yingliang, an associate research curator at the National Museum of China.
In Zhengzhou City of central China's Henan Province, the Henan Provincial Museum launched special performances featuring the play of ancient music using bone flutes and chime bells restored from cultural relics, and the hall of every performance was packed with visitors.
"The performances give us a refreshing feeling. For children, the resonance has further stimulated their interest in history and culture. This trip is very worthwhile," said Wang Minyi, a visitor at the museum.
During the holiday, museums across the country also adopted new measures to facilitate visits, including extending opening hours and increasing the number of cultural lecture sessions.
Chinese museums attract visitors with special exhibitions, performances during Spring Festival
The heartbreaking story of 96-year-old Peng Zhuying, one of the last living survivors from the Japanese military's "comfort women" system in the Chinese mainland, has been shared in a moving documentary produced by the China Global Television Network (CGTN).
Peng remains one of only seven registered survivors in the Chinese mainland of the Japanese military's "comfort women" system, a brutal a state-enforced regime of sexual slavery during World War II, victimizing over 400,000 women across Asia.
She is also the only living survivor who is officially documented as a victim of both sexual slavery and of Japan's chemical warfare during the Japanese militarists' war of aggression against China.
Eight decades on, Peng has bravely shared the story of her horrifying experiences in the CGTN original documentary "Last Daughters," which reveals the deep scars left by war and captures the quiet strength and warmth that endured, even in the darkest depths of human suffering.
Blinded by mustard gas at age nine and mutilated at 14 before being forced into a military brothel during the war, Peng was able to survive despite facing these unimaginable hardships in her young life.
Peng shared some of the artifacts and the stories behind them from those difficult days.
"This is a fortune slip, a divination note, meaning you need to be cautious in what you do. When I was 16, my father forced me to study fortune-telling. He told me if I didn't learn, I would not get any food. At that time, I wanted to care for children instead, but I could make the call myself. I had to listen to him to make a living," she said.
She memorized every incantation as part of the fortune-telling custom. For 80 years, it was her livelihood, and she has continued to show strength to overcome any challenges in her life.
"I've gone through so much hardship, and yet I'm still alive. Now, I'm only afraid of getting sick and dying from it. I was sick for most of last year, and have yet to recover until now," said Peng.
Though she survived all the tortures and survived from the atrocities conducted by the Japanese aggressors, Peng's health is never been too strong, as she suffered from severe gynecological injuries and became infertile, while also losing her sight as she fell victim to a chemical warfare attack.
"These are gallstones. She had them for several decades. But she lost her eyesight early on and never had toxic exposure. The only explanation is the mustard gas she inhaled. Life for her has been harsh, far harsher than it appears on the surface," said her nephew Peng Zifang.
Japan's "comfort women" system, a state-sponsored sexual slavery scheme by the military, was unprecedented in modern history. It enslaved at least 400,000 women across Asia and the Pacific, including Chinese, Korean, Filipino and many other victims.
Half of those who suffered were Chinese. The Japanese opened its first "comfort women station" in Shanghai and over 2,100 followed in other places they invaded. Girls, deemed "military supplies," were trafficked like weapons.
Later in life, aged 43, Peng married a fisherman 20 years older than her. Only after his death did she speak openly about what she faced.
"Before my father passed away, he told me the stories of my two aunts. I was deeply shaken. Both of my aunts revealed the truth about the 'comfort stations' only after their husbands died. The often-cited figure [of 400,000] known victims barely scratches the surface of the true scale. Many more endured in silence because of the conservative traditions of that era. To speak up meant risking scorn, oppression and even violence. So they bore it quietly," said Peng Zifang.
Documentary reveals life of Chinese survivor of Japan's sexual slavery during WWII
