FUZHOU, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Private museums are a highlight at an ongoing museum expo in east China's Fujian Province.

The 8th Chinese Museums and Relevant Products and Technologies Exposition (MPT-Expo) began Friday in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian. This year's expo set up a separate exhibition area for non-state-owned museums for the first time, attracting 76 private museums from across the country.

With their bronzeware, ceramics, ancient coins, silk garments and sculptures, such showpieces tinted with intense folk flavors and distinctive local characteristics of the private museums stole the spotlight at the show.

Authorities hope the private museums will attract the attention of audiences and gain their support so that the museums can develop sustainably and steadily and become a new impetus of the industry, said Wang Bin, curator of the Tang West Market Museum.

"State-owned museums have more advantages in terms of research, talent and funding, but non-state-owned museums have their own characteristics such as rich content and abundant exhibition categories," Wang said. "We can play a supplementary role in enriching the exhibition themes."

Built on the ruins of the Tang West Market, an international trade center during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the Tang West Market Museum brings a lot of cultural and creative products, such as bookmarks and mobile phone cases with beautiful ancient patterns.

The exhibition area of the private museums has attracted over 2,000 visitors so far.

"I didn't know much about the non-state-owned museums before. It's a good opportunity to learn about them," said Cai Shaoling, a visitor from Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.

Held every two years since 2004, the MPT-Expo is a large-scale event in the museum industry. This year, the expo, scheduled to conclude on Nov. 26, will also host a variety of forums and academic activities, as well as public lectures.