China's National Museum Reopens to Visitors for Free

National Museum of China reopened to the public in Beijing after renovation and provided free admissions to visitors starting March 27th, 2011.

    

                       The appearance of China's National Museum                             

The new-renovated interior of the museum

Started in March 2007, the renovation work takes four yours in improving the equipment and decoration, during which the museum was partly closed. Now the national museum has been expanded to nearly 200 square meters and holds 49 exhibition rooms, reportedly making it the largest museum in the world.

Recent Essential Exhibitions

To celebrate the reopening, the National Museum had well-prepared seven exhibitions for visitors: Road to Renaissance, Ancient Bronze Artworks, Art of Ancient Chinese Buddha Statues, Chinese Porcelains, and other three exhibitions displaying elaborate paintings of reputable painters Pan Tianshou, Li Keran and Huang Zhou. Each exhibition was themed on a special topic, demonstrated with hundreds of precious cultural relics.

        
Road to Renaissance (China Space Exploration)               

 An aged man gazing at a porcelain artiwork

        
An exquisite Buddha statue on display          
 

Students photoing Houmuwu Ding, the world's heavist bronze ware

A young lady is appreaciating a refined porcelain articraft on show.

Museum Entrance Notice

Though it is free to visit the museum, visitors need to get free-admission tickets to enter the national museum. At the meantime, considering to protect these cultural relics, the operating committee of the museum has planned to limit the daily number of visitors to only 8,000. Thus it would be better for visitors to get to get a free-admissions in advance to ensure a smooth visiting. 

Museum Visiting Tips

The museum also suggests that visitors should arrange their visiting on weekdays, to aviod the predictable pushing crowds on weekends and public holidays such as Qingming Festival, Labor's Day and so on.

Background Knowledge of China's National Museum

Museum History

As a landmark of Beijing, National Museum of China lies at estern side of Tiananmen Square. It was first founded in July 1912 as a histroy museum, and then it was renamed National Museum of China in February 28th, 2003. With dozens of years' development, the museum has become the largest museum in China and in the world, with a fine collection of 1,000,000 pieces of relics and artistic works. No wonder it is called as a treasure house of Chinese arts and history.

The most known collected pieces include: Houmuwu Ding (also called Simuwu Ding, the earliest bronze ware discovered in China and the heaviest bronze ware in the world), Siyangfang Zun (a ancient quadrate bronze vessel decorated with four sheeps), Jin Lv Yu Yi (a suit of jade pieces tied together with gold wire) and Tangsancai pottery (tri-coloured glazed pottery of the Tang Dynasty).

Open Time

8:30 - 16:30 (Last Entry at 15:00) for March 1 - June 30
8:00 - 18:00 (Last Entry at 17:00) for July 1 - August 31
8:30 - 16:30 (Last Entry at 15:00) for September 1 - October 31
9:00 - 16:00 (Last Entry at 15:00) for November 1 - February 29

Address

No. 16, East Chang'an Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing, China

How to get National Museum of China

By Bus: you can take No. 1, 2, 10, 20, 37, 52, 54, 120, 728, 802 buses to Tian'anmen Square and then walk to the museum.

By Subway: you can the No.1 subway line to the Tian'anmen Square and the museum is at the east of the square.

By taxi: there are thousands of taxis in Beijing and they can take you to the museum from any corners of the capital.

Useful Links

Customize a Beijing Tour to enjoy the national treasures displayed at the China's National Museum.

Beijing Tours

What to see in Beijing

(Pics source: People's Daily)