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Song Qingling Former Residence
Madam Song is lovingly venerated by the Chinese as the wife of Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Republic of China. Her house is rather dormant and moth-eaten; on display are personal items, pictures, clothing and books. You can find the museum on the northern side of Houhai Lake and within reach of Prince Gong's Residence.
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Songtangzhai Museum
This small museum on Liulichang Dongjie has few English captions, but it's one of the few places you can get to see traditional Chinese carvings gathered together. Well worth popping into if wandering Liulichang. Seek out the gateway from Jiāngxī with its elaborate architraving, examine old drum stones, Buddhist effigies, ancient pillar bases and carved stone lions.
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Wan Fung Art Gallery
This Beijing branch of the Hong Kong-based gallery deals in contemporary Chinese figurative art in traditional mediums like oil or watercolour.
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Wanshou Temple & Beijing Art Museum
Ringed by a red wall, the Ming dynasty Wanshou Temple was originally consecrated for the storage of Buddhist texts. From Qing times the imperial entourage would put their feet up here and quaff tea en route to the Summer Palace. Wanshou Temple fell into disrepair during the Republic, with the Wanshou Hall burning down in 1937. Things went from bad to worse and during the Cultural Revolution the temple served as an army barracks.
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Xu Beihong Museum
The Chinese artist Xu Beihong (1895-1953), best remembered for his galloping horses that injected dynamism into previously static forms of Chinese brushwork, is commemorated in this intriguing museum. Xu's success is celebrated here in seven halls and remembered in a collection of oils, gouache, pen and ink sketches, and portraits.
