Seven regions
Two things decide whether a museum visit in China works, and neither is the collection. 123 of these 162 are closed on Monday. 121 of them charge nothing to enter and 116 want a booking made in advance, usually on a Chinese platform and often a day or more ahead.
So the last column carries those three facts for every entry. The background, including how the booking systems work, is on the museums page.
9 kinds
What the Labels Mean
| Kind | Museums | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| General collection (综合馆) | 45 | the provincial or city museum, bronzes through to ceramics under one roof |
| Single-subject museum (专题馆) | 40 | one subject followed the whole way, from tea to railways |
| Memorial hall (纪念馆) | 32 | built around a person or an event |
| Site or tomb museum (遗址/陵墓馆) | 20 | a museum put up over the dig itself |
| Folk and minority museum (民俗/民族馆) | 10 | how people lived, and which people |
| Natural history (自然馆) | 6 | fossils, rocks and animals |
| Art museum (艺术馆) | 5 | painting, calligraphy and modern work |
| Palace museum (宫殿馆) | 3 | a palace kept as a museum of itself |
| Academy (书院) | 1 | an old academy, still laid out as one |
By region
Where They Are
| Region | Museums | Provinces |
|---|---|---|
| North China (华北) | 28 | Beijing, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Tianjin |
| Northeast China (东北) | 14 | Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning |
| East China (华东) | 45 | Anhui, Fujian, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shandong, Shanghai, Zhejiang |
| Central China (华中) | 17 | Henan, Hubei, Hunan |
| South China (华南) | 13 | Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan |
| Southwest China (西南) | 26 | Chongqing, Guizhou, Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan |
| Northwest China (西北) | 19 | Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Xinjiang |
Getting In
Most of these are free and most of them want a booking, made on a Chinese platform a day or several ahead, and the good ones sell out in the school holidays. Tell our local team which cities you will be in and they will handle the bookings and say which halls are worth the time.