Chizhou Museum (Chizhou Prefectural Confucian School)

Chizhou Museum (Chizhou Prefectural Confucian School)

Chizhou Museum (Chizhou Prefectural Confucian School) is a national AAA-level tourist attraction and a cultural heritage site protected by Chizhou Municipality.

Chizhou Prefectural Confucian School, originally built during the Tang Dynasty, was initially known as the Temple of Confucius, also called the Confucian Temple. It served as a shrine where successive dynasties and local people worshipped and paid tribute to Confucius and the sages of Confucianism. From the Song Dynasty onward, government-run schools were often combined with Confucian Temples. Thereafter, Chizhou Prefectural Confucian School became the educational, cultural, and ceremonial center of Chizhou through the ages. In 1917, the Chizhou Normal School was established on the original site of Chizhou Prefectural Confucian School. Major historic structures affiliated with Chizhou Prefectural Confucian School—including the Dacheng Gate, Dacheng Well, Zhuangyuan Bridge, Pan Pond—as well as the ancient city wall and the original historical spatial axis between these buildings have been well preserved.

Chizhou Museum is located on ChiYang Road in Chizhou City (on the former site of Chizhou Normal School). It is under the administration of the Chizhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Press and Publication, operates at the division level, and is a fully funded public institution.

Chizhou Museum is a comprehensive local museum. As a non-profit cultural institution, it collects, preserves, researches, and exhibits natural history specimens and precious artifacts of material and spiritual culture. It is a public cultural venue open to the public, dedicated to disseminating historical and scientific knowledge, promoting patriotism and socialism, and serves as an important window showcasing Chizhou’s history and culture and shaping the image of Chizhou.

Covering a land area of 14,600 square meters with a building area of 6,500 square meters, Chizhou Museum is constructed on the rebuilt site of Chizhou Prefectural Confucian School. It consists of main structures such as the Dacheng Gate, Dacheng Hall, Minglun Hall, Chongsheng Shrine, Minghuan Shrine, Xiangxian Shrine, and the East and West Side Halls. The exhibition area spans over 3,500 square meters, featuring displays on “Historical Relics” (including prehistoric civilization, bronze culture, ceramic culture, and numismatic culture), “Intangible Cultural Heritage” (including surface cultural relics highlights, intangible cultural heritage, and notable figures related to Chizhou), “Confucian Culture,” and “Buddhist Culture.”

In 1917, the Chizhou Normal School was established on the original site of Chizhou Prefectural Confucian School. Major historic structures affiliated with Chizhou Prefectural Confucian School—including the Dacheng Gate, Dacheng Well, Zhuangyuan Bridge, Pan Pond—as well as the ancient city wall and the original historical spatial axis between these buildings have been well preserved.

Chizhou Museum arranges its exhibits according to the original layout of Chizhou Prefectural Confucian School, divided into six major sections: the Introductory Hall, Historical Relics, Confucian Culture, Buddhist Culture, Intangible Cultural Heritage, and the Ancient Stele Corridor. The museum currently houses a collection of over 1,200 cultural relics. The Introductory Hall primarily showcases the historical evolution of Chizhou. The Historical Relics Exhibition is divided into four units—“Seven Stars Pointing to Destiny,” “Red Star and Purple Smoke,” “Celadon Flowing Green,” and “Woodblock Imprints”—mainly displaying Chizhou’s prehistoric civilization, bronze civilization, ceramic civilization, and numismatic culture through its relic collections. The Confucian Exhibition Hall focuses on Confucian culture represented by Confucius and the imperial examination culture exemplified by Chizhou’s six top imperial examination scholars. The Buddhist Exhibition Hall introduces Chizhou’s Buddhist culture, highlighted by the religious culture of Jiuhua Mountain. The Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition is divided into three units—“Rustic Ancient Charm,” “Traces of the Famous,” and “Green City Highlights”—showcasing intangible cultural heritage, notable figures related to Chizhou, and surface cultural relics. The Ancient Stele Corridor mainly displays three ancient steles from the Song, Ming, and Qing Dynasties in Chizhou, along with representative stone carving culture.