Hubei Provincial Museum

Located in the Wuchang District of Wuhan, Hubei Province, Hubei Provincial Museum is one of the best-known museums in China, with a large amount of State-level historic and cultural relics. Established in 1953, the museum moved to its present location in 1960 and gained its present name in 1963. Since 1999 a number of new buildings have been added.

It has a collection of over 200,000 objects, including the Sword of Goujian, an ancient set of bronze bells (Bianzhong) and extensive artifacts from the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng and the tombs at Baoshan. The particular importance of several of the archaeological items in the museum's collection has been recognized by the national government by including them into the short list of Chinese cultural relics forbidden to be exhibited abroad. This museum is divided into three parts: the Chime Bells Exhibition Hall, the Chu (a state in the Spring and Autumn Period (770BC-476BC)) Culture Exhibition Hall, and the Comprehensive Exhibition Building. The Comprehensive Exhibition is still under construction at the present time.

The Chime Bells Exhibition Hall contains two parts: the Exhibition Hall and the Music Hall. In the Exhibition Hall, you can see many cultural relics that have been unearthed from the tomb of Yi (the king of the Zeng Sate in the Warring States Period (476 BC - 221 BC), such as the exquisite bronze vessel known as 'Crane Standing on the Antler', ancient halberds, triangle-shaped swords called Shu, and the bamboo slips that were used for writing on in ancient times.

The most famous treasure is the Chime Bells, which is the largest bronze musical instrument ever discovered. With a set of bells of different sizes, it can play various tones of the musical scale, and the timbre is quite beautiful. There are about 3,000 ancient Chinese characters on the bells, describing the music and the owner of this instrument. In the Music Hall, musicians wearing ancient clothes play a replica of the Chime Bells two times a day, at 11:00 and 16:00. You will surely be enchanted by the ancient beautiful music, which has been played overseas on many occasions.

 

The Chu Culture Exhibition Hall features the regional culture of the Chu State. Most of the cultural relics displayed here are bronze vessels, lacquer works, bamboo and wooden artifacts, and silk knitted products. You can also see various ancient weapons of the Chu State such as the sword of Gou Jian (the king of the Yue State in the Spring and Autumn Period) and the shaft of Fu Chai (the king of the Wu State in the Spring and Autumn Period). In 2002, archaeologists discovered pieces of chariots and horses of the Chu State. After careful restoration, some of the chariots and horses are now displayed in this hall. In addition to the unearthed cultural relics, some restored models of the houses in which Chu people lived are shown to the visitors to give them more direct impression of the ancient Chu people's lives. 

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