East China (华东) · 45 museums · 7 provinces
45 museums in East China, grouped by province. 38 of them are closed on Monday. The last column also says whether entry is free and whether a booking is needed.
Most common here: Single-subject museum (14), General collection (13), Memorial hall (10). See all regions, or the background on museums.
11 museums
Shandong (山东省)
| Museum | City | Getting in |
|---|---|---|
| Shandong Museum (山东博物馆)The provincial museum, recorded as the first provincial general museum founded in the People’s Republic, with more than 210,000 objects. Standing halls on Shandong history, Han carved stone, Buddhist sculpture and the Ming princes of Lu. | Jinan | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Confucius Museum (孔子博物馆)Listed as the largest museum devoted to Confucius, holding around 700,000 items, most of them from the Kong family archive of eight centuries. It works with the temple, mansion and cemetery as one quarter of Qufu. | Jining | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| China Ejiao Museum (中国阿胶博物馆)Described as the only national museum devoted to ejiao, the donkey-hide gelatin that Dong’e has made for close to three thousand years. The modern production line can be seen from inside. | Liaocheng | Ticketed |
| Yinqueshan Han Slips Museum (银雀山汉墓竹简博物馆)Built over the tomb itself, and described as China’s first museum devoted to Han bamboo slips. The 1972 find produced texts of Sunzi and of Sun Bin together, settling an argument about the two authors that had run since the Tang. | Linyi | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Tsingtao Beer Museum (青岛啤酒博物馆)Recorded as China’s first beer museum, opened in 2003 in the brewery buildings of 1903. The ticket includes tastings of unfiltered beer straight off the line, which is what most people come for. | Qingdao | Ticketed |
| Qingzhou Museum (青州博物馆)Listed as the only county-level museum among the first 83 given national first-grade status. The new building opened in 2023 and holds the gilded Longxing Temple Buddhist figures dug up in 1996. Booking opens three days ahead and goes quickly in summer. | Weifang | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| World Kite Museum of Weifang (潍坊世界风筝博物馆)Described as the first specialist kite museum in China and the largest of its kind, with twelve halls running from fifth-century BC Lu Ban kites to modern ones. Free since 2016, with indoor flying displays. | Weifang | Free · closed Mon |
| China Museum of Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 (中国甲午战争博物馆)In the Beiyang Fleet admiralty on Liugong Island, covering the war of 1894 and 1895. The island was the fleet’s base and the command post during the fighting. | Weihai | Ticketed |
| Changyu Wine Culture Museum (张裕酒文化博物馆)Opened in 1992 at the winery founded in 1892 by the returning overseas merchant Zhang Bishi, and described as the first underground wine cellar in Asia. Rebuilt again in 2022. | Yantai | Ticketed |
| Qi State Capital Site Museum (齐国故城遗址博物馆（东周殉马坑）)The dig at the Qi capital, where Linzi served as the state’s seat for over eight centuries. The horse pit around Duke Jing’s tomb runs 215 m and held more than six hundred sacrificed horses. | Zibo | Free · book ahead |
| Zibo Ceramic and Glass Museum (淄博陶瓷琉璃博物馆)Described as the largest museum in the country devoted to ceramics and glass: 25 halls over five floors, and objects running back ten thousand years. A glass-blowing workshop runs in the basement. | Zibo | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
8 museums
Jiangsu (江苏省)
| Museum | City | Getting in |
|---|---|---|
| Zhou Enlai Memorial Hall (周恩来纪念馆)Opened in 1992 in Zhou Enlai’s home town, on an island in the Taohuayuan water. The main hall is square outside and octagonal within; his Beijing office and living rooms at Xihuating are reconstructed at full size. | Huai’an | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders (侵华日军南京大屠杀遇难同胞纪念馆)Marks the killing of civilians and disarmed soldiers after Nanjing fell in December 1937. The official Chinese toll of 300,000 is carried at the entrance. Built over an excavated burial pit, which is shown where it was found. | Nanjing | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Nanjing Imperial Examination Museum of China (南京中国科举博物馆)The only museum devoted to the imperial examinations, built into the Jiangnan Examination Hall, once recorded as the largest examination compound in the country. Four floors run downward from the riverside entrance, and the exit opens onto the Confucius Temple quarter. | Nanjing | Ticketed |
| Nanjing Museum (南京博物院)Counted among the oldest museums in China, founded in 1933 as the National Central Museum. The collection runs to more than 430,000 objects, and the two adjoining buildings are laid out as separate galleries rather than one route. | Nanjing | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Nantong Museum (南通博物苑)Credited as the first public museum in China, opened in 1905 by the industrialist Zhang Jian. About 50,000 items, split between local history, folk objects and natural specimens, on grounds that were originally his garden. | Nantong | Free · closed Mon |
| Suzhou Museum (苏州博物馆)I. M. Pei’s last building, opened in 2006 beside the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom prince’s residence, which it incorporates. White wall and grey tile worked into modern geometry; many visitors come for the building rather than the collection. | Suzhou | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Xuzhou Museum (徐州博物馆)26,000 objects, most of them from the tombs of the twelve Western Han kings of Chu who ruled from here. Three jade burial suits, sewn with gold, silver and bronze thread, are shown together, which is uncommon. | Xuzhou | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| China Grand Canal Museum (扬州中国大运河博物馆)Opened in 2021 with more than 10,000 canal-related objects, from the Spring and Autumn period to the present, across thirteen halls on four floors. The building is shaped like a ship under sail beside the Grand Canal Pagoda. | Yangzhou | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
8 museums
Zhejiang (浙江省)
| Museum | City | Getting in |
|---|---|---|
| China National Silk Museum (中国丝绸博物馆)Described as the largest museum of silk anywhere, open since 1992, with 70,000 pieces running from the Neolithic to the present. The standing exhibition follows silk outward along the trade routes. | Hangzhou | Free · closed Mon |
| China National Tea Museum (中国茶叶博物馆)The national museum of tea, set among working tea fields on the hills west of West Lake. Runs from the legendary discovery of tea through Tang boiling and Song whisking to the loose-leaf brewing of the Ming. | Hangzhou | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Liangzhu Museum (良渚博物院)Covers the Liangzhu culture of 5,300 to 4,300 years ago, whose walled city, jade ritual system and water works were inscribed by UNESCO in 2019. The cong tube recorded as the largest, 8.8 cm tall and 6.5 kg, is here. Building by David Chipperfield. | Hangzhou | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Zhejiang Museum of Natural History (浙江自然博物院)Two sites, in Hangzhou and Anji, holding some 200,000 specimens of the region’s geology, fossils, plants and animals. The Anji building, opened in 2018, covers 61,000 square metres. | Hangzhou | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Zhejiang Provincial Museum (浙江省博物馆)Free since 2004 and enterable on ID without booking. The main sequence, Ten Thousand Years of Zhejiang, is built from excavation; five thematic galleries cover celadon, the sea, Song aesthetics, calligraphy and local figures. | Hangzhou | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Nanhu Revolutionary Memorial Hall (嘉兴南湖革命纪念馆)Covers the founding congress of the Chinese Communist Party in July 1921, which moved from Shanghai to a boat on this lake to finish its business. A replica of that boat is the memorial’s emblem. | Jiaxing | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Ningbo Museum (宁波博物馆)Wang Shu’s building of 2008, faced with six million old bricks and tiles salvaged from demolished Ningbo neighbourhoods. Inside: local history, the maritime trade routes, and folk material including one of the two surviving Ningbo wedding palanquins. | Ningbo | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Shaoxing Lu Xun Memorial Hall (绍兴鲁迅纪念馆)The street where Lu Xun grew up, kept as a block rather than a single building: the two family compounds, the Hundred Plants Garden, the Sanwei Study and the memorial hall, in late-Qing Shaoxing housing. | Shaoxing | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
5 museums
Fujian (福建省)
| Museum | City | Getting in |
|---|---|---|
| China Shipbuilding Culture Museum (中国船政文化博物馆)The Fuzhou Navy Yard, opened in 1866, was China’s first modern shipyard and its first naval academy. Its graduates include the translator Yan Fu, the railway engineer Zhan Tianyou, and Deng Shichang, who died at the Yalu in 1894. | Fuzhou | Free · closed Mon |
| Fujian Museum (福建博物院)Listed as the largest museum in Fujian, by the West Lake in Fuzhou. Covers early Fujian, the maritime trade routes, the Fujian-Taiwan relationship and the revolutionary period. A Persian turquoise-glazed jar of the Five Dynasties sits among the trade evidence. | Fuzhou | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Longyan Central Soviet Area (龙岩中央苏区（闽西革命历史）博物馆)Covers western Fujian as a core area of the Central Soviet, including the Gutian conference of 1929 and the departure points for the Long March at Changting and Ninghua. | Longyan | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Quanzhou Maritime Museum (泉州海外交通史博物馆)The only museum devoted to China’s maritime foreign contact. Quanzhou was the main port of the Song and Yuan; the stone carvings here, Islamic, Christian, Hindu and Manichaean, record who lived in it. A Song seagoing ship raised in 1974 is the centrepiece. | Quanzhou | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Xiamen Overseas Chinese Museum (厦门华侨博物院)Founded in 1956 by Tan Kah Kee, the Singapore businessman who also founded Xiamen University. The only museum of overseas Chinese history: 6,000 items on emigration, life in Southeast Asia, and money sent home. | Xiamen | Free · closed Mon |
5 museums
Jiangxi (江西省)
| Museum | City | Getting in |
|---|---|---|
| Jinggangshan Revolution Museum (井冈山革命博物馆)Covers the base area Mao established in the Jinggang mountains in 1927, the first rural one, and his meeting with Zhu De in April 1928. Opened in 1959 and rebuilt in 2007, with about 30,000 items. | Ji’an | Free · book ahead |
| Jingdezhen China Ceramics Museum (景德镇中国陶瓷博物馆)The national ceramics museum, in the town that fired imperial porcelain from 1004 and held the imperial kilns under the Yuan, Ming and Qing. Thirty thousand pieces, from Neolithic painted pottery to contemporary work. | Jingdezhen | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Jiangxi Provincial Museum (江西省博物馆)Recorded as the largest museum in Jiangxi, in a cube opened in 2020. The 2024 gallery on the Xin’gan great tomb gave it one of the strongest bronze collections in southern China; the double-tailed tiger from that tomb is its emblem. | Nanchang | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Nanchang August 1st Uprising Memorial Hall (南昌八一起义纪念馆)Built around the 1922 hotel building that served as headquarters for the uprising of 1 August 1927. That date is now the founding date of the Chinese army, and the museum opened here in 1956. | Nanchang | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Nanchang Han Dynasty Haihunhou State Relics Museum (南昌汉代海昏侯国遗址博物馆)The tomb of Liu He, emperor for 27 days in 74 BC before he was deposed and made Marquis of Haihun. Over 115 kg of gold, a jade seal that identified him, and bamboo slips carrying a version of the Analects lost for 1,800 years. | Nanchang | Ticketed · book ahead · closed Mon |
5 museums
Shanghai (上海市)
| Museum | City | Getting in |
|---|---|---|
| China Art Museum (中华艺术宫)The Chinese pavilion of the 2010 World Expo, reused as a museum of modern and contemporary Chinese art across 64,000 square metres. Holds the Shanghai School painters and a 128-metre animated version of Along the River During Qingming. | Shanghai | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Shanghai Film Museum (上海电影博物馆)Built on the site of the Shanghai Film Studio, with 26,000 items from the industry that started here, including original animation drawings for Havoc in Heaven and Nezha Conquers the Dragon King. Rarely crowded, and easy to reach from Xujiahui. | Shanghai | Ticketed · closed Mon |
| Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum (上海犹太难民纪念馆)Covers the roughly 25,000 Jewish refugees who reached Shanghai between 1933 and 1941 and settled around Tilanqiao in Hongkou. Built around the former Ohel Moshe Synagogue, opened in 2007 and enlarged in 2020. | Shanghai | Ticketed · closed Mon |
| Shanghai Museum (上海博物馆)China’s best-known collection of bronzes, ceramics, painting and jade, in a round-topped building on People’s Square. The Pudong branch opened in 2024 and took the bronze and sculpture galleries. The Da Ke ding, a Western Zhou ritual cauldron, is here. | Shanghai | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Shanghai Natural History Museum (上海自然博物馆)A nautilus-shaped building with a spiralling green roof, holding tens of thousands of specimens and running from the origin of the universe to the evolution of life. The mounted Mamenchisaurus is described as the largest sauropod skeleton displayed in Asia. | Shanghai | Ticketed · book ahead · closed Mon |
3 museums
Anhui (安徽省)
| Museum | City | Getting in |
|---|---|---|
| Anhui Museum (安徽博物院)The largest museum in Anhui on official figures, strong on Chu bronzes and on the gold currency called ying yuan, which was cut to size as payment required. A Huizhou house interior is reassembled on the fourth floor. | Hefei | Free · book ahead · closed Mon and Tue |
| Crossing River Campaign Memorial Hall (渡江战役纪念馆)Covers the crossing of the Yangtze in April 1949, in a building shaped like two warships under way. Nanjing fell on 23 April, two days after the crossing began. | Hefei | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| China Huizhou Culture Museum (中国徽州文化博物馆)The only museum covering Huizhou culture as a whole: the merchants, the architecture, the three carving trades, ink and inkstones. Of its 100,000 items the Huizhou documents, private records kept over centuries, are the core. | Huangshan | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
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.