Museum sights in China
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Guangzhou City Museum
Near the Mausoleum of the Nanyue King is Yuexiu Park. Within, you’ll find Guangzhou’s Five Rams Statue, a statue of the five immortals attributed to Guangzhou’s founding. On top of a hill in the park is the red-walled, five-storey Zhenhai Tower (Zhènhǎi Lóu), which houses the Guangzhou City Museum. The museum boasts an excellent collection of exhibits that trace the history of Guangzhou from the Neolithic period. On the east side of the tower is the Guangzhou Art Gallery, showcasing Cantonese embroidery, carved ivory decorations, and (oddly) displays outlining Guangzhou’s trading history with the West.
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Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall
The 3rd floor features Shanghai’s idealised future, with an incredible model layout of the megalopolis-to-come plus a dizzying Virtual World 3-D wrap-around tour complete with celebratory fireworks.
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Taikang Road Art Centre
Xīntiāndì and Taikang Rd are based on a similar idea – an entertainment complex housed within a layout of traditional lòngtáng alleyways – but when it comes to genuine charm and vibrancy, Taikang Rd is the one that delivers. Also known as Tiánzǐfáng, this community of design studios, wi-fi cafes, and boutiques is the perfect antidote to Shànghǎi’s oversized malls and intimidating skyscrapers. With families still residing in neighbouring buildings, a community mood survives, and the area’s relative transport isolation has prevented it from being utterly swamped by tour groups.
There are three main north–south lanes (Nos 210, 248, 274) criss-crossed by irr…
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Confucius Mansions
Adjacent to the Confucius Temple are the Confucius Mansions, a maze of 450 halls, rooms, buildings and side passages originally dating from the 16th century.
The mansions were the most sumptuous aristocratic lodgings in China, indicative of the Kong family's former power. From the Han to the Qing dynasties, the descendants of Confucius were ennobled and granted privileges by the emperors. They lived like kings themselves, with 180-course meals, servants and consorts.
Qūfù grew around the Confucius Mansions and was an autonomous estate administered by the Kongs, who had powers of taxation and execution. Emperors could drop in to visit; the Ceremonial Gate near the south entr…
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Hong Kong Museum of History
For a whistle-stop overview of the territory’s archaeology, natural history, ethnography and local history, this museum is well worth a visit, not only to learn more about the subject but also to understand how Hong Kong presents its history to itself and the world. ‘The Hong Kong Story’ takes visitors on a fascinating walk through the territory’s past via eight galleries, starting with the natural environment and prehistoric Hong Kong – about 6000 years ago, give or take a lunar year – and ending with the territory’s return to China in 1997. You’ll encounter replicas of village dwellings; traditional Chinese costumes and beds; a re-creation of an entire arcaded street in…
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Húnán Provincial Museum
Not to be missed, this first-rate museum has fascinating exhibits from the 2100-year-old Western Han tombs of Mǎwángduī, some 5km east of the city.
The items on show allow you to get a rare handle on Western Han aesthetics – check out the astonishing expressions on the faces of some of the wooden figurines. Also excavated are more than 700 pieces of lacquerware, Han silk textiles and ancient manuscripts on silk and bamboo wooden slips, including one of the earlier versions of the Zhōuyì (Yìjīng, also called I Ching), written in formalised Han clerical script.
But the highlight is the body of the Marquess of Dai, extracted from her magnificent multilayered lacquered…
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Shanghai Museum
A tour de force, this museum of traditional Chinese art is the centrepiece of People’s Square, if not Shanghai, so bookmark a whole day. Top galleries include the Ceramics Gallery, Bronzes Gallery and Painting Gallery. Arrive early to avoid the queues. The Shanghai Museum also has an emporium. Items include facsimiles of the museum’s porcelain collection, and postcards and books on the Chinese arts, architecture, travel and language.
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Hong Kong Maritime Museum
This small but interesting museum, occupying the ground floor of Murray House, consists of ancient and modern galleries charting the shipping history of Hong Kong. It’s well worth a visit if you’ve already come to see Murray House. The modern gallery includes some fun interactive displays where you can test your skills at Morse code or even pilot a tanker through Hong Kong waters.
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Military Museum
From the humble swords and rifles of earlier eras, to the tanks and fighter planes of more modern times, as well as surface-to-air missiles, there’s enough hardware on display here to start WWIII. But despite the martial tone, this is one of Beijing’s more popular museums. The sections on China’s many wars are fascinating, although there’s a lack of English captions.
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Shanghai History Museum
One of Shanghai’s top sights, this fun museum charts the city’s highs and lows from its days as a cotton-producing town to its grandiose, opium-wreathed heyday and beyond. Life-size models of traditional shops are staffed by realistic waxworks and some exhibits are hands-on or accompanied by creative video presentations.
reviewed
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Kāifēng Museum
The highlight of the museum is the two notable Jewish stelae on the 4th floor, managed by the Kāifēng Institute for Research on the History of Chinese Jews, but you will have to pay Y50 to see them. Buses 1, 4, 9 and 23 all travel past here.
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Turpan Museum
Touted as the 'second-largest museum in Xīnjiāng' (the first is in Ürümqi), the museum houses a bountiful collection of relics found at archaeological sites in the Turpan Basin, as well as a hall of dinosaur fossils. Pop in here before signing up for a tour; the photos of nearby sites might help you decide what you'd like to visit.
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Hong Kong Heritage Museum
Located southwest of Sha Tin town centre, this worthwhile museum is housed in a three-storey, purpose-built structure that is reminiscent of an ancestral hall. It has both rich permanent collections and innovative temporary exhibits in a dozen galleries. The ground floor contains a book and gift shop, the wonderful Children’s Discovery Gallery, with eight learning and play zones (including ‘Life in a Village’, ‘Undersea Garden’ and ‘Mai Po Marsh’) for kids aged four to 10, a Hong Kong Toy Story hands-on area for tots and an Orientation Theatre, with a 12-minute introductory video in English on the hour. There’s also a lovely teahouse. Along with five thema…
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Guǎngxī Provincial Museum
This ugly, mammoth museum actually has a superb collection of ancient Dong bronze drums, some dating back more than 2000 years. They were used as sacrificial and ritual vessels as well as musical instruments, and the biggest is a whopping 165cm in diameter. In the leafy back garden are some full-size examples of Dong and Miao houses, and a nail-less Wind and Rain Bridge, which now houses an impressive restaurant, Āmóu Meǐshí.
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Army of Terracotta Warriors
The Terracotta Army isn't just Xī'ān's premier site, but one of the most famous archaeological finds in the world. This subterranean life-size army of thousands has silently stood guard over the soul of China's first unifier for over two millennia. Either Qin Shi Huang was terrified of the vanquished spirits awaiting him in the afterlife, or, as most archaeologists believe, he expected his rule to continue in death as it had in life – whatever the case, the guardians of his tomb today offer some of the greatest insights we have into the world of ancient China.
The discovery of the army of warriors was entirely fortuitous. In 1974, peasants drilling a well uncovered an …
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Imperial City Exhibition
Substantial portions of Běijīng survive solely in a twilight world of fading nostalgia. This fascinating museum is devoted to the Imperial City (Huáng Chéng), which – beyond its fragmented constituent parts – exists largely in name alone. The museum is within the Changpu River Park (Chāngpú Hé Gōngyuán), a delightful, if contrived, formula of marble bridges, rock features, paths, a stream, willows, magnolias, scholar and walnut trees north of Dongchang’an Jie. The museum functions as a memorial to the demolished imperial wall, gates and buildings of the Imperial City. A diorama in the museum reveals the full extent of the yellow-tiled Imperial City Wall, wh…
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Shaanxi History Museum
Shaanxi's museum is often touted as one of China's best, but if you come after visiting some of Xī'ān's surrounding sights you may feel you're not seeing much that is new. Nevertheless, the museum makes for a comprehensive and illuminating stroll through ancient Cháng'ān, and most exhibits include labels and explanations in English.
The ground floor covers prehistory and the early dynastic period. Particularly impressive are several enormous Shang- and Western Zhou-dynasty bronze tripods (dǐng), Qin burial objects, bronze arrows and crossbows, and four original terracotta warrior statues.
Upstairs, the second section is devoted primarily to Han-dynasty relics. The high…
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Stilwell Museum
The Stilwell Museum by Eling Park is something of a novelty in China as it focuses on the American involvement in WWII. It is the former VIP guesthouse of the Kuomintang and residence of General Joseph Stilwell, commander of the US forces in the China-Burma-India Theatre and chief-of-staff to Chiang Kaishek in 1942.
Stilwell realised early on that a successful resistance required the cooperation of the Kuomintang and communist forces, and it was at his urging that Chiang relented for a time. Repeated efforts to bring the two sides together in a truly unified front against the Japanese largely failed, Stilwell said later, because of Chiang's obsession with wiping out the c…
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Forest of Stelae Museum
Housed in Xī'ān's Confucius Temple, this museum holds over 1000 stone stelae (inscribed tablets), including the nine Confucian classics and some exemplary calligraphy. The second gallery holds a Nestorian tablet (AD 781), the earliest recorded account of Christianity in China. (The Nestorians professed that Christ was both human and divine, for which they were booted out of the Church in 431.) The fourth gallery holds a collection of ancient maps and portraits, and is where rubbings (copies) are made, an interesting process to watch.
The highlight, though, is the fantastic sculpture gallery (across from the gift shop), which contains animal guardians from the Tang dynast…
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Taipa House Museum
The most beautiful sight on Taipa is this unusual museum, formed by five lime-green villas. The villas were summer residences built in 1921 by wealthy Macanese. Three hold permanent exhibitions, while the other two are used for receptions and special exhibitions. The House of the Regions of Portugal (Casa das Regiões de Portugal) has costumes and examines traditional Portugal. The House of the Islands (Casa das Ilhas) looks at the history of Taipa and Coloane, with displays devoted to the islands’ traditional industries: fishing and the manufacture of oyster sauce, shrimp paste and fireworks. The last is the Macanese House (Casa Macanese), a residence in local style; i…
reviewed
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Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence
This museum doesn’t exactly sound like a crowd pleaser, but its displays are as much about peace as war. It also occupies a knockout location in the Lei Yue Mun Fort (1887), which took quite a beating during WWII, and has sweeping views down to the Lei Yue Mun Channel and southeastern Kowloon. Exhibitions in the old redoubt, which you reach by elevator from street level, cover Hong Kong’s coastal defence over six centuries, from the Ming and Qing dynasties, through the colonial years and Japanese invasion, to the resumption of Chinese sovereignty. There’s a historical trail through the casemates, tunnels and observation posts almost down to the coast. To reach the museum …
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Xīnjiāng Autonomous Region Museum
The massive Xīnjiāng Autonomous Region Museum, with 10 halls, is a must for Silk Road aficionados. The highlight is the locally famous 'Loulan Beauty' of Indo-European ancestry, one of the desert-mummified bodies that became a Uighur independence symbol in the 1990s. Other exhibits include Buddhist frescoes from the Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves and an introduction to all of the province's minorities. From the Hongshan intersection, take bus 7 for four stops and ask to get off at the museum (bówùguǎn).
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Macau Museum
To interactively grab the essence of the history of Macau, head to this excellent museum housed in the Monte Fort. On the first level, the Genesis of Macau exhibit takes you through the early history of the territory, with parallel developments in the East and the West compared and contrasted. The highlight here is the elaborate section devoted to the territory’s religions. On the second level (Popular Arts & Traditions of Macau), you’ll see and hear everything from a re-created firecracker factory and a chá gordo (fat tea) of 20 dishes enjoyed on a Sunday, to the recorded cries of street vendors selling items such as brooms and scrap metal. Do not miss the recording…
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Lantau Link Visitors Centre
The Lantau Link Visitors Centre and its viewing platform (admission free; 7am-10.30pm Sun-Fri, 7am-1.30am Sat) is where you can take in the enormity of Tsing Yi Bridge and the Lantau Link, the combined road and rail transport connection between the New Territories and Lantau. The centre contains models, photographs and videos of the construction process – very much a crowd-pleaser for trainspotters and the hard-hat brigade. The Lantau Link has since been overshadowed somewhat by the Stonecutter’s Bridge, a graceful 1.5km span bridging the gap between the massive international container terminal in the New Territories and Tsing Yi Island. The visitors centre for the Lantau…
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Hong Kong Racing Museum
Horse racing is the most popular live spectator sport in Hong Kong, not least because it offers one of the few legal ways to gamble in the city. An evening at the races at Happy Valley Racecourse is also hugely atmospheric and is one of the quintessential Hong Kong things to do, if you happen to be around during one of the roughly fortnightly Wednesday evening races. The punters pack into the stands and trackside, and the atmosphere is electric. Though probably one for racing buffs only, you can also visit the Hong Kong Racing Museum, which has eight galleries and a cinema showcasing celebrated trainers, jockeys and horseflesh, and key races over the past 150 years. The m…
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