Tu Yidao Root Art Collection Museum

Tu Yidao Root Art Collection Museum

The Tu Yidao Root Art Collection Museum is located in the northeast corner of Hongmei Park, covering an area of 2,000 square meters. It is a complex of antique-style courtyard buildings, featuring white walls, black tiles, carved beams and painted rafters, curved bridges over water, and lush trees, offering a very beautiful environment. Mr. Tu Yidao was born in 1913 in Dou Alley, North Gate, Changzhou, and later settled in Fuzhou. His works gained fame across China and were renowned overseas, earning him the title of “treasure of the world.” In the 1980s, the Changzhou municipal government invested several million yuan to build the Root Art Museum to permanently preserve and showcase Tu Yidao’s rare masterpieces. A half-length bronze statue of Mr. Tu Yidao was also erected in the exhibition hall of the Root Art Collection Museum, making it a new scenic attraction in Changzhou.

The museum displays over 200 root carving masterpieces created by Mr. Tu Yidao with his lifelong dedication and artistry, making it currently the largest and most richly endowed root art institution in China. Tu Yidao’s works have been collected by multiple art museums both at home and abroad, and he has donated over 200 of his finest root art pieces, painstakingly crafted, to his hometown Changzhou. Party and state leaders have given full recognition and high praise, with Gu Mu, former Vice Premier of the State Council, personally inscribing the words: “Exquisite craftsmanship, art as if naturally formed.”

Root carving, as a form of plastic art, uses old tree roots as raw materials, with the sculptor’s unique insights and concepts as its soul. It simulates the images of flowers, trees, birds, beasts, ganoderma, and even Taoist and Buddhist deities to create artworks that blend object and self, form and meaning. There are towering masterpieces over ten feet high, as well as exquisite miniatures just over a foot wide; there are thrilling pieces like “Eagle Capturing Snake,” as well as gentle ones reminiscent of light music like “Rain on Lotus.” Each piece is vivid and lifelike, combining the resonant brightness of bronze with the resilient subtlety of aged wood, giving viewers an impression of figures seemingly ready to step out and instantly captivate the heart. Its artistic quality reaches almost the pinnacle of perfection. Gu Mu’s impromptu verse truly captures these root art masterpieces and their creator. Viewing the museum’s treasured collection makes it even more evident that Gu Mu’s high praise was in no way exaggerated. “When man and nature unite in root carving, and both eye and heart delight in art.” It is because root carving creates such a realm of unity between man and nature that viewers feel as if they are hearing heavenly sounds, experiencing mental serenity and joy, and receiving aesthetic shocks and pleasures.

Address: No. 75 Xiaodongmen Road, northeast corner of Hongmei Park, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province

Transportation: Take bus B23 within Changzhou city and get off at Xiaodongmen Shangcheng Station or Hongmei Park Station.

Tu Yidao, born in 1913, was an entrepreneur and also an artist—deeply passionate about root carving art. For decades, he traveled tirelessly through high mountains, secluded valleys, cliffs, and rapids, wearing out iron shoes and discovering materials with keen insight, making unique discoveries and creative contributions. His attainments are unrivaled, and he is a world-renowned master of root carving. Tu Yidao is honored as the founder of the root carving genre and the foremost modern root carving artist in China. He once served as the Director of the Root Carving Art Committee of the Folk Artists Association under the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and as the Director of the Academic Committee of Flower, Potted Plant, and Root Art in China.

Tu Yidao’s works are renowned nationwide and celebrated overseas, acclaimed as… Tu Yidao’s detailed information++