During the seven days' Spring Festival holiday, except for visiting friends and relatives, you can also go to temple fairs or museums to experience the "New Year atmosphere". Museums in Beijing have a variety of exhibits and activities planned to bring people a joyous Lunar New Year celebration.

The wooden sculpture, Black Monkey, from the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912) stands in the center of the exhibition hall, greeting visitors with a "gold ingot" in his hands. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The Capital Museum

Opening time: Closed on Feb 7; Feb 8, noon-5 pm; Feb 9-13, 9 am-5 pm

Admission: Free

The Beijing Capital Museum is presenting a special monkey-themed exhibition that decodes the cultural roots of the monkey in traditional Chinese culture.

The exhibit, Monkey King is Coming (Da Sheng Lai Ye), showcases more than 40 antique collections, including paintings, calligraphy, stamps, utensils and artwork, and 12 classic Monkey King pictures based on the great Chinese novel, Journey to the West. The exhibition lasts until March 13.

The museum also prepared a series of cultural activities for children, such as making paper-cuts for window decoration, lanterns and painting monkeys.