A visitor views a relic on show at Nanjing Museum during the May Day holiday this year.[Photo by Yang Suping/For China Daily]

Updates on China's upcoming International Museum Day celebration were released on Monday as the novel coronavirus epidemic wanes in the country.

Nanjing Museum in Jiangsu province's capital will host the main event of the day, which falls on May 18, according to the National Cultural Heritage Administration.

A special exhibition showing over 200 cultural relics from the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) and the Han Dynasty (202 BC-AD 220) will be launched by eight institutions, including the Nanjing Museum and Henan Museum, Nanjing Museum curator Gong Liang says.

The theme is "museums for equality, diversity and inclusion". This year's campaign will also include special activities around May 18 in locations across China. The aim is to build communications platforms between museums and the public, the NCHA says.

The opening ceremony will feature a donation of materials demonstrating China's collective efforts in combating the epidemic.

Provincial-level museums in Hainan, Gansu, Liaoning and Heilongjiang will also host exhibitions.

The main offline event will be subject to epidemic controls. But the celebration will also feature online activities for the first time, NCHA deputy head Guan Qiang says. Many will be livestreamed, he says.

Eleven cities, including Chongqing, Guangzhou, Beijing and Changsha, have hosted the main event since 2009.

The NCHA will also invite celebrities and experts to interpret the exhibitions and explore approaches to innovatively translate and develop traditional Chinese culture via livestream, Guan adds.