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May 18 this year marked the 46th International Museum Day. On the day, Beijing launched an activity named "Visiting Museums Along the Central Axis," with an aim to promote a series of museums in the capital.

A money pot might carry a sweet childhood memory for some. But as early as 2,000 years ago, in today's Yunnan Province of southwest China, it means wealth, status, and power.

When historians discuss business development and technological advances in ancient China, they often refer to the Song Dynasty (960-1279)-the "golden age" for such achievements.

Beijing International Pop Music Festival kicked off on April 12.From May 6 to 8, three shows will be staged in the capital. These shows will feature Haya, a Beijing-based rock band founded in 2006 by a group of Mongolian ethnic musicians; singer-songwriter Chen Hongyu; and Beijing-based band Sir Deer, which was founded in 2006 and is composed of six members. They will perform at the Beijing Exhibition Hall. From April 12 to 21, 12 new bands will perform at Omni Space, a popular live house venue in Beijing.

Although Charles Foldesh, a 37-year-old American drummer, had to temporarily stop his performance due to the COVID-19 resurgence in Shanghai, he has transformed his balcony into a stage, winning applause and cheers from his neighbors.

The total number of Chinese museums rose by 395 to 6,183 in 2021, 90 percent of them offering free admission, said a senior cultural official Wednesday.

In 2012, Chinese writer Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize in Literature, and his works have since been translated into at least 40 languages with more than 200 versions read worldwide. In 2020, online Chinese literary works attracted more than 83 million overseas readers, a 160.4-percent increase year on year. Chinese literary works have become an important window for foreigners to understand Chinese culture. Translators, as messengers of cultural exchange between China and foreign countries, have played an important role.

A girl with an intellectual disability from Suzhou, Jiangsu Province has learned to play more than 300 songs with Erhu and flute and has won many prizes thanks to her father.

"Translation is understanding and making others understand," said translator and professor Yu Zhongxian during a recent interview he gave to China Pictorial (CP). "I operate a ferry, a bridge between two shores empowering Chinese readers to gain richer knowledge of other countries."

"Mandarin Chinese is appallingly difficult to learn!" Albanian sinologist Iljaz Spahiu waved his hands and couldn't help bursting into laughter when recalling his first Chinese course. In 1974, when he was only 19, Spahiu set out from Tirana, capital of Albania, and flew across the Eurasian continent to Beijing. He enrolled in a Chinese class at Beijing Language Institute (now Beijing Language and Culture University). After more than a year of studying there, he went to Peking University for a program on Chinese studies.

At the very first sight, few understand the grave lexicography of the Chinese character"𡈙(yóu)." But Mark Leenhouts is quite familiar with how the pictograph depicting a "a caged bird" on his WeChat profile vividly captures the nature of the translation profession—"a decoy bird."

Today marks International Museum Day, an annual event created in 1977 by the International Council of Museums.