Suzhou Opera Museum

Suzhou Opera Museum

The Suzhou Opera Museum is located within the Quanjin Guild Hall on Zhangjia Lane in the eastern part of the city, specifically at No. 14 Zhong Zhangjia Lane. It covers an area of about 5 acres. The guild hall was jointly funded and built by Shanxi merchants residing in Suzhou during the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty, and it is the most completely preserved among the more than 100 guild halls and public halls in Suzhou’s history.

Entrance Hall: Situated along the street, the entrance hall is grand, spacious, and magnificent, with one pavilion-style musicians’ tower on each side. Featuring a hip-and-gable roof and facing the street on the gable side, these towers are rare examples of classical ritual-style architecture in China.

Stage Area: The classical stage is the highlight of the entire ancient architectural complex in the stage area, especially the dome-shaped caisson ceiling above the stage. With a crimson base color, inlaid with black and gold, the ceiling panels are exquisitely carved. There are 18 rows of 324 shallowly carved black designs interspersed with 18 rows of 306 round-carved golden tongues, spiraling upward to converge on the copper mirror at the top of the caisson dome. This not only showcases exquisite classical architectural art but also reflects the ingenious use of acoustic principles to create a lingering echo effect.

Exhibition Rooms: The museum currently houses four exhibition rooms dedicated to Kunqu opera, Pingtan storytelling, Suzhou opera, and classical ethnic musical instruments. A wealth of artifacts, historical materials, images, and descriptions fully demonstrate that Suzhou is one of the birthplaces of Chinese classical operas such as Kunqu.

Here, you can see the Ming Dynasty woodblock-printed version of The Peony Pavilion (also known as The Return of the Soul), a handwritten copy of The Peony Pavilion – Strolling in the Garden from the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty, vividly colored “Twelve Styles of the Jianghu” (itinerant performers), finely carved rosewood opera boats, lanterns adorned with jade and inlaid treasures for Kunqu performances, a replica of a storytelling basin unearthed from the tomb of Emperor Xuan of the Western Han Dynasty, Ma Rufei’s storytelling notes titled Dream History, the pipa once used by “Pipa King” Xue Laqing, Jiang Yuequan’s rosewood sanxian (a three-stringed instrument), the “Ancestors’ Portrait” and “Moral Teachings,” rare ancient books such as White Snow Taoist Tunes and The Legend of Wenxing Bang, as well as models of two opera plays, Drunk Return and Lake Boat Ramble. There is also a set of 24 ancient court musical instruments known as the double-tone bianzhong (chime bells), a set of 37-cloud gongs, and replicas of musical instruments unearthed from Neolithic cultural sites, among other items.

Further Reading:

· National Second-Class Museum of China