Suzhou Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Suzhou Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine

The Suzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Museum is situated in "Chunhuitang," located adjacent to the west of the Suzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital on Jingde Road in Suzhou. Chunhuitang is listed as a municipal cultural heritage site under the fourth batch of announcements. The entire building complex of Chunhuitang covers an area of over 2,400 square meters and was originally the site of the former residence of Shen Shixing, a top imperial scholar from Suzhou during the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty. After more than four hundred years of vicissitudes, the Shen family residence was successively owned by Zhu Mingyu, a wealthy merchant from Yangshan; Jiang Ji, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Punishments during the Qing Dynasty; Bi Yuan, a top imperial scholar from Taicang; Sun Shiyi, Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion; and Liang Yousong, another wealthy businessman. In the 20th year of the Guangxu reign (1894 AD), the property was purchased by Yang Hongyuan, a jeweler, as his residence. He named the main hall “Chunhuitang,” and the residence became known as the Yang Mansion at Chunhui Hall.

In the early years after the liberation, Chunhuitang became a residential area and later served as a warehouse and office space for a department store. The surviving structures include the main hall and three subsequent buildings. The main hall, "Chunhuitang," dates back to an earlier period. It is three bays wide, plus two side wings totaling 24 rooms, with a depth of 13.5 meters. The subsequent three sections of the building exhibit architectural styles from the early Qing Dynasty.

Cultural heritage experts and relevant departments conducted multiple rounds of deliberation on the restoration plan for “Chunhuitang.” Through a bidding process, Suzhou Xiangshan No.1 Construction Group Co., Ltd. was selected to carry out the construction in accordance with the principle of “restoring the old as it was.” With an investment of 8 million yuan, the restoration project covered Chunhuitang, its rear halls, and the courtyard buildings. The entire project took ten months and was completed in July 2002.

The restored Chunhuitang main hall is three bays wide with side wings, spanning a total width of twenty-five meters and a depth of thirteen meters, giving it an exceptionally spacious and grand appearance, earning it the folk name “Hundred Tables Hall.” The hall features massive stone bases for its pillars, flat-style beams decorated with patterns of mountain mist clouds and beam-embracing clouds. At the front is a double-layered curved roof structure, and at the rear is a single-layered one. Between the rafters and beams are five rows of bracket sets. Between the bracket sets are decorative wooden patterns symbolizing happiness and longevity, all contributing to a style that is robust, simple, and dignified. Now functioning as the Suzhou Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the museum is divided into eight exhibition halls. Organized chronologically, the exhibits use a variety of displays such as panels, cultural relics, books, and reconstructed scenes to vividly and intuitively present the origins and development of traditional Chinese medicine, the formation and evolution of Wu School medicine, the legacy of famous physicians from the Wu region (such as Ye Tianshi), the characteristics and progress of Wu medicinal herbs, as well as the diagnostic tools, medical classics, various tangible artifacts related to traditional Chinese medicine in the Wu area, stories and achievements of renowned doctors. The museum is open to the public free of charge.