BEIJING, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese museums held a total of 30,000 exhibitions each year, receiving 900 million visitors, according to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) on Thursday.

There were 4,873 registered museums in China as of the end of 2016, of which 4,246, or 87.1 percent, are open to the public free of charge, said Liu Yuzhu, director of SACH.

According to Liu, aside from public museums, there are 1,297 private museums, accounting for 26.6 percent of the country's total.