Wujin Museum

Wujin Museum

Wujin Museum is situated on the west side of Wuyi Road in the National 5A-level Chunqiu Yancheng Tourist Area in Wujin District, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province. It is an artistic hall showcasing the historical culture of Wujin and the ancient civilization of the Jiangnan region. The museum opened to the public on December 12, 2007. It is mainly responsible for the public services of collecting and preserving cultural relics, academic research, exhibitions, and social education, and undertakes field archaeology work within the Wujin area. The museum currently has a staff establishment of 21, including three senior cultural heritage professionals, eight intermediate-level professionals, and six departments: the Office, the Interpretation and Reception Department, the Exhibition and Conservation Department, the Social Education Department, the Archaeological Research Department, and the Security Department. In October 2019, the Xiaoyuan Art Gallery of Wujin District, Changzhou, was merged into the museum.

Wujin Museum has a construction area of 8,728 square meters and features a two-story building designed in the style of the Han Dynasty, with an appearance that is simple, elegant, majestic, and dignified. It houses two permanent exhibition halls — “Historical River Rhymes” and “Chunqiu Yancheng” — as well as two temporary exhibition halls, covering a total area of 3,025 square meters. The museum currently holds 3,293 collections, among which 593 are classified as precious cultural relics. The exhibits include ancient fossils such as a rhinoceros ivory fossil from hundreds of thousands of years ago, jade and stone artifacts from the Neolithic Age, and objects made of jade, pottery, porcelain, bronze, iron, and gold and silver from the Shang and Zhou dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties. Liangzhu culture jade artifacts, primitive celadon from the Spring and Autumn period, and Ming Dynasty textiles are among the highlights of the collection. The “treasures of the museum” include an 11-section Liangzhu culture human-faced jade cong, a jade belt hook, a dugout canoe, and a primitive celadon tripod.

The museum receives an average of over 350,000 visitors per year. Themed around events such as Changzhou’s “Culture 100” public welfare program, the Wujin District Citizens' Art Festival, International Museum Day (May 18), and China’s Natural and Cultural Heritage Day, the museum holds about 20 various temporary exhibitions annually and sends out five exchange exhibitions. With the goal of engaging and serving minors, and emphasizing ideological and moral education, the museum organizes more than 20 science popularization activities, lectures on cultural relics, and historical figure exhibitions in schools and communities each year under themes such as “building Wujin Museum educational courses,” integrating topics like our festivals, intangible cultural heritage, collections, notable figures, and exhibitions. The museum publishes the journal Wujin Wenbo (Wujin Cultural Relics), and has released professional books and monographs such as Paintings and Calligraphy in Wujin Collections, Exploring the Mysteries of Yancheng, and Wujin Museum Collection Highlights, along with over 70 published papers.

The museum has been awarded several honorary titles, including “Jiangsu Provincial Patriotic Education Base,” “Jiangsu Provincial Science Education Base,” “Jiangsu Provincial Social Science Popularization Demonstration Base,” “Unit with Outstanding Performance in Implementing the Jiangsu Provincial Social Science Popularization Promotion Regulations (2016–2018),” “Advanced Collective in the First National Survey of Movable Cultural Relics in Jiangsu Province,” “Outstanding Science Education Base in Changzhou,” “Advanced Collective in Science Education Work during the 12th Five-Year Plan Period,” “Outstanding Municipal Juvenile Social Practice Base in Changzhou,” and “Advanced Collective in Patriotic Dream-Building and Striving-to-Realize-Dreams Mass Patriotic Education Activities in Changzhou.”

Wujin Museum is dedicated to serving the public and promoting the development of a culturally strong district. It makes full use of its own resources to enhance permanent exhibitions, introduces popular special exhibitions, and collaborates with social forces to co-host exhibitions, providing visitors with a diverse range of cultural experiences.

Further Reading:

· National Second-Class Museum of China