Haining Museum

Haining Museum

Located on the western side of Ziwu Mountain in scenic Jiaxing's Xiashi District, the museum was established in June 1958. It currently houses a collection of over 6,000 artifacts, spanning from the Majiabang Culture of the Neolithic Age to more recent periods, encompassing over 20 categories such as ceramics, jade, calligraphy, and paintings. The collection features a rich variety and a well-structured chronology, excelling especially in porcelain and jade artifacts.

The museum spans an area of 13 mu, with a building area of over 5,000 square meters. It includes exhibition spaces such as the Cultural Relics Exhibition Hall, the Calligraphy and Painting Gallery, the Lantern Art Gallery, the Dinosaur Gallery, the Science Popularization Gallery, and the Exhibition Center. It also operates year-round alongside cultural heritage sites under its management, including the Former Residence of Xu Zhimo and the Yanfen Thatched Cottage.

The Lantern Art Exhibition Hall at Haining Museum is the city’s only display venue dedicated to Xiashi lanterns. In addition to showcasing the craftsmanship and history of lantern-making, it features a collection of exquisite Xiashi lanterns, such as the Character Pavilion, Hundred-Piece Pagoda, Wen Hui Pavilion, Treasure Basin, Plum Pavilion, and Pearl Curtain Umbrella.

Xiashi Lantern Gallery

According to available data, the gallery covers an area of 480 square meters and highlights the lamp culture, one of the “Three Major Cultures” unique to Haining. Xiashi lanterns originated in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. They represent a local folk art form that integrates various crafts such as needlework, poetry, calligraphy, painting, seal engraving, and metalwork. In June 2006, Xiashi lanterns, together with Haining shadow puppets, were listed among China’s first batch of national intangible cultural heritage items.

Xiashi lanterns have a long history, originating in the Tang Dynasty and thriving in the Song Dynasty. Through centuries of refinement, they have evolved into traditional handicrafts that combine manual dexterity with artistic elements like calligraphy and painting. The craft is characterized by eight distinctive processes: shaping, binding, knotting, mounting, carving, painting, needling, and gluing, with needling being especially prominent. The intricate patterns are exquisitely detailed and, when illuminated, create vivid, translucent images. The lanterns have won numerous awards at national craft and lantern exhibitions. In 2001, Xiashi lanterns were showcased at the Asian Lantern Festival in New Zealand and a lantern exhibition in Greece, receiving widespread acclaim.

Chen Yixi’s Ink Silk Five-Character Poem Scroll in Cursive Script

Qing Dynasty. Height 278 cm, width 52 cm. Bears one square white-seal stamp “Chen Yixi Seal” and one square vermilion-seal stamp “Liu Jian.”

Sheng’s Ink Silk Seven-Character Poem Scroll in Cursive Script

Qing Dynasty. Height 115.8 cm, width 41 cm. Bears a rectangular white-seal starting stamp “Dan Yuan Hall Book Collection Seal,” square white-seal signature stamps “Haining Zha Shengshan AKA Sheng Seal” and “Grand Historian’s Seal,” and rectangular vermilion-seal collector’s stamps “Haichang Qian Jingtang’s Collection of Local Scholars’ Relics After Fifty” and “Once Collected at Zhang Changbo’s Residence.”

Liangzhu Culture Jade Bi Disc

Neolithic Age. Collected in August 1989 from the Lotus Leaf Site in Zhouwangmiao Town, Haining. Diameter 25 cm, inner hole diameter 5 cm, thickness 1.8 cm. Emerald green in color, polished, plain surface. Intact.

Jingdezhen Hutian Kiln Wine Warmer and Pitcher Set

Northern Song Dynasty. The wine warmer features seven lotus-petal shaped sections, slightly flared like a trumpet. The body is made of pure, fine white clay with thin glaze, showing a slightly bluish-white tone. The pitcher has a straight mouth, straight neck, sloping shoulders, slightly tapered body, and ring foot. It comes with a lion-shaped knob lid. The body is made of pure, fine white clay with thin glaze, showing a slightly bluish-white tone.

Haining Museum earnestly implements the principles outlined in the Cultural Relics Protection Law. Guided by the cultural heritage policy of “protection first, rescue foremost, rational utilization, and strengthened management,” the museum has adapted to new social developments. It has made efforts in cultural relic preservation, investigation and collection, collection utilization, resource sharing, international exchanges and cooperation, and expanding educational outreach. These contributions provide strong intellectual and spiritual support for economic, cultural, and social development, fully reflecting the museum’s progressive, scientific, and public-oriented cultural mission. Through decades of effort by generations of museum professionals—including investigation, collection, donation acceptance, and archaeological excavation—the museum’s collection has grown increasingly comprehensive, featuring a rare diversity and structural integrity for a county- or city-level museum. In addition to permanent exhibitions such as “Collection Highlights,” “Local Scholars’ Calligraphy and Paintings,” and “Haining Lantern Culture,” the museum has organized nearly 200 temporary exhibitions, lectures, and training sessions, attracting over 400,000 visitors. In 2003, Haining Museum was designated as a Jiaxing Municipal Patriotic Education Base by the Jiaxing Municipal Party Committee Office and Jiaxing Municipal People’s Government Office. In 2007, it was further honored as an Advanced Patriotic Education Base in Jiaxing. The museum has fully implemented free admission for all visitors.

Statistics from the Zhejiang Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics indicate that Haining Museum ranks first in Jiaxing City in terms of collection size and third among county- and city-level museums in Zhejiang Province.

Address: No. 542 Xishan Road, Haining City, Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province

Type: Museum

Phone: 0573-87046717

Opening Hours:

8:00–11:00, 13:30–16:30; closed on Mondays

Ticket Information:

Free admission.

Further Reading:

· National Third-Class Museum of China