South China (华南) · 13 museums · 3 provinces
13 museums in South China, grouped by province. 11 of them are closed on Monday. The last column also says whether entry is free and whether a booking is needed.
Most common here: General collection (5), Memorial hall (2), Single-subject museum (2). See all regions, or the background on museums.
6 museums
Guangdong (广东省)
| Museum | City | Getting in |
|---|---|---|
| Opium War Museum (鸦片战争博物馆)Covers the destruction of 2.37 million jin of opium at Humen in June 1839 and the war that followed. Several sites: the destruction pits, a naval war hall, and three coastal forts along the mouth of the Pearl River. | Dongguan | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Foshan Ancestral Temple Museum (佛山祖庙博物馆)A Daoist temple to the Northern Emperor, begun in the 1080s, and the demonstration piece for Lingnan crafts: Shiwan ceramic ridge figures, wood and brick carving, cast iron. The Wanfu stage stands in the grounds, with halls for Wong Fei-hung and Ip Man. | Foshan | Ticketed |
| Guangdong Museum (广东省博物馆)Listed as the largest museum in Guangdong, in a building modelled on a carved lacquer box. Three standing exhibitions cover the province’s history, its natural resources and its folk culture. Booking is by name and time slot. | Guangzhou | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Nanyue King Museum (南越王博物院)The tomb of Zhao Mo, second king of Nanyue (137–122 BC), found in 1983 and left cut into the hill. Over a thousand objects, including a gold seal reading Emperor Wen and a jade burial suit sewn with silk thread. | Guangzhou | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Shenzhen Museum (深圳博物馆)Two sites. The main one covers the reform era: Shenzhen became China’s first special economic zone in 1980, and the material of that decade, including the Shekou board about time and money, is what sets the collection apart. | Shenzhen | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Sun Yat-sen Former Residence Memorial Hall (孙中山故居纪念馆)Cuiheng, the village where Sun Yat-sen was born in 1866 and spent his childhood. The house he built for his family in 1892 stands with a memorial hall and a reconstructed block of village housing, over 200,000 square metres in all. | Zhongshan | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
4 museums
Guangxi (广西壮族自治区)
| Museum | City | Getting in |
|---|---|---|
| Baise Uprising Memorial Hall (百色起义纪念馆)Covers the December 1929 uprising in the Youjiang valley, which was an early command for Deng Xiaoping. Opened in 1999 on Yinglong hill, with about 5,500 square metres of floor space. | Baise | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Guilin Museum (桂林博物馆)Guilin was the seat of the Jingjiang princes for 280 years from 1370, and the meiping vases from their tombs, over three hundred of them, are what this museum is known for, alongside Ming and Qing painting. | Guilin | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Guangxi Museum of Nationalities (广西民族博物馆)Covers the twelve peoples native to Guangxi and holds a collection of bronze drums described as the largest anywhere; the Beiliu-type drum here is 165 cm across. The building takes its shape from a drum face. Entry on ID or passport, no booking. | Nanning | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Museum (广西壮族自治区博物馆)Founded in 1934 and listed as the largest museum in Guangxi, with close to 100,000 items running from an 800,000-year-old handaxe found at Bose to Han bronze drums, trade glass, and Zhuang and Yao embroidery. | Nanning | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
3 museums
Hainan (海南省)
| Museum | City | Getting in |
|---|---|---|
| Dongpo Academy (儋州东坡书院)Su Shi was banished to Danzhou from 1097 to 1100 and taught in the hall called Zaijiu Tang that stands here. Hainan dates its own literary education from that. | Danzhou | Ticketed |
| Hainan Museum (海南省博物馆)The only general museum on Hainan, with 25,287 items. The South China Sea gallery is built around the Huaguang Reef wreck, a Southern Song ship, and the porcelain raised with it, close to ten thousand pieces. | Haikou | Free · book ahead · closed Mon |
| China (Hainan) Museum of the South China Sea (中国（海南）南海博物馆)The national museum of the South China Sea, opened in 2018 in a building shaped like a ship. Ten galleries over three floors cover the sea’s human history, its ecology, the trade routes, and underwater archaeology. | Qionghai | 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.