Hubei Provincial Museum

Introducing Hubei Provincial Museum (from Chinadaily & official website)
Hubei Provincial Museum is one of Wuhan's most famous and impressive attractions. Standing by the beautiful East Lake, the museum was opened in 1956 to showcase some of Hubei’s incredible archaeological finds. It is the only provincial comprehensive museum in the province. The museum is built on a massive scale. It covers an area of more than 51,000 square meters and has over 9,000 square meters of floor space. A 170-strong staff team makes sure that everything runs smoothly. The museum collects, protects, and exhibits the cultural relics discovered in the province. Since 1953, the museum has collected over 230,000 cultural relics, including pottery, porcelains, jade, bronze vessels, ancient weapons, and ancient musical instruments. Among these cultural relics, about 1000 pieces or sets of First Grade Cultural Relics, making it rank in the forefront of the provincial museums in China.

Hubei Provincial Museum Fast Facts
• Chinese Name: Hu Bei Sheng Bo Wu Guan 湖北省博物馆
• Best Time to Visit: All year around
• Recommended Visiting Hours: 1-3 hours
• Things to Do: Photography, History, Culture
• Opening Hours: 09:00-17:00 Tuesday to Sunday,
• Entrance Fee: Free
• Address: No. 160,East Lake Road,Wuchang District,Wuhan, Hubei

What to expect at Hubei Provincial Museum
At present, Hubei Provincial Museum has ten basic exhibition series, such as “Chu Culture”, “Tomb of Marquis Yi of the Zeng State”, “Liangzhuangwang Tomb — treasure of Zhenghe’s era. Meanwhile, more than a dozen of temporary exhibitions are also introduced to meet various needs.

The Chime Bells Exhibition Hall
It 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 - 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 15:00. You will surely be enchanted by the ancient beautiful music, which has been played overseas on many occasions.

 

The Chu Culture Exhibition Hall
It features the regional culture of the Chu State. Chu was a state in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). 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.

How to get to Hubei Provincial Museum
• Hubei Provincial Museum can be reached by Metro Line 8, bus 14, 402, 411, 552, 578, 701, 709 and 810.
• Rent a car/bus from GGC to enjoy a hassle free private transfer from hotels in Wuhan to Hubei Provincial Museum.

Additional travel advice on Hubei Provincial Museum
• The museum is closed on Mondays expect for public holidays.
• A reservation is required on official website (https://hbsb.hdwbsaas.com).
• Using flash or tripod is prohibited in the museum.