Changxing Museum

Changxing Museum

The Changxing County Museum, also known as the Changxing Taihu Museum, was established on July 19, 1976. Its original location was at No. 99, Xianqian West Street, Zhicheng Town, Changxing County. The current site is situated south of the intersection of Central Avenue and Binhu Avenue in Taihu New Town, Changxing County, Zhejiang Province, and was designed by American architect Marshall Strabala.

In 2000, the Changxing County Government invested 60 million yuan to build the Changxing Convention and Exhibition Center in People's Square, Zhicheng Town. The museum occupied 3,500 square meters of exhibition space and officially opened to the public on January 1, 2002. In 2003, the museum became the first county-level museum in Zhejiang Province to offer free admission.

The new Changxing Taihu Museum was constructed in July 2016, completed in October 2018, and opened to the public on January 13, 2019. The original exhibitions were relocated in their entirety to the new museum, and the old site was closed. Designed by American architect Marshall Strabala and built to the standards of a National Second-Class Museum, the museum is a Taihu-themed institution that showcases the natural and cultural stories of the Taihu Lake basin. It fully presents the lake’s natural features, cultural significance, resource attributes, as well as the history, culture, nature, ecology, and folklore of the Taihu region. It serves as a comprehensive cultural hub integrating cultural displays, educational tourism, and leisure experiences.

The interior design makes full use of the museum’s collection resources and incorporates cutting-edge digital technology to highlight the characteristics of Taihu Lake and the local area of Changxing. The museum houses an extensive and highly valuable collection of over 10,000 cultural relics, including 28 national first-class relics, 81 national second-class relics, and 785 national third-class relics. In terms of architectural scale, hardware facilities, and the quality and quantity of collections, the museum ranks among the top of its peers and is currently the only thematic museum in the Taihu Lake basin dedicated to the lake itself.

The Changxing Taihu Museum covers an area of 145 mu, with a total construction area of 31,000 square meters spread across nine floors — seven above ground and two underground.

The exhibition halls are distributed on the first to fourth floors above ground:

First Floor and Mezzanine: Temporary exhibition halls, and the Taihu Museum Alliance’s Neolithic Era – Archaeological Achievements Joint Exhibition;

Second Floor: The Pearl of Taihu – Changxing History Exhibition Hall, and Changxing Future Exhibition Hall;

Third Floor: Embracing Wu and Yue – Taihu Cultural History Exhibition Hall;

Fourth Floor: The Eastern Great Marsh – Taihu Natural Resources Exhibition Hall.

Opening Hours

Permanent and temporary exhibitions: 9:00–16:30 (last entry at 16:00, closes at 16:30). Closed on Mondays (except national holidays and special circumstances).

Visiting Method

Free admission. Visitors may queue at the entrance with their ID to receive a ticket via scanning and then enter.

Further Reading:

· National Second-Class Museum of China