Dongshan County Museum

Dongshan County Museum

The Dongshan County Museum is situated within the Wind-Rocking Stone Scenic Area of Dongshan County. Established in July 1988, it is a comprehensive museum that includes the Huang Daozhou Memorial Hall. It covers an area of 2,453 square meters and has a construction area of 4,349 square meters. It shares office space with the County Cultural Relics Protection Management Office, with a staffing quota of 6 (including 2 quotas from the Dongshan County Cultural Relics Management Office). There are actually 5 staff members on the payroll and 5 fixed temporary workers (contract workers of the museum service department). It is a public institution fully funded by government finance.

For a long time, the Dongshan County Museum has fully leveraged its role as a cultural platform, continuously serving society and the general public through colorful and engaging exhibitions. It has organized over fifty displays and exhibitions, playing a positive role in the cultural development of Dongshan, the popularization of science and culture, and patriotic education. The Dongshan County Museum (including the Huang Daozhou Memorial Hall) currently has three exhibition halls. The new site of the museum houses two exhibition halls on the first and second floors. The first-floor hall permanently exhibits “The Prehistoric Cultural Relations Between Fujian and Taiwan,” while the second-floor flexible exhibition hall currently hosts “The Exhibition of Shared Roots Culture Across the Taiwan Strait.” The Huang Daozhou Memorial Hall contains one exhibition hall, divided between left and right sections. The left side permanently displays “The Historical Relics Exhibition of Huang Daozhou,” while the right side serves as a flexible exhibition space for various displays, currently showcasing commemorative calligraphy and paintings of Huang Daozhou.

As the Dongshan County Museum is located within the national AAAA-level tourist attraction — the Wind-Rocking Stone Scenic Area of Dongshan — it receives approximately 850,000 visitors annually. Elementary and middle school students from across the region, military personnel stationed on the island, and new recruits enlisted each year frequently organize visits and study sessions at the museum. In particular, compatriots from Taiwan visit and tour the museum in an endless stream.

While making full use of the museum's platform to fulfill its social functions, the Dongshan County Museum also engages long-term in the archaeological work and protection of cultural relics in the county, achieving certain accomplishments. In terms of cultural relics protection, Dongshan County boasts a long history and a wealth of cultural heritage sites. The county has a total of 81 protected cultural relics units, including: 1 national-level protected unit, 4 provincial-level protected units, and 76 county-level protected units. These units are regularly inspected and maintained each year to ensure the safety of the relics. Regarding archaeology, there have been continuous significant archaeological discoveries. For instance, the existence of the “Dongshan Land Bridge” was confirmed. This is substantiated by mammalian fossils found in the waters of Dongshan over the years, serving as physical evidence. Through archaeological research by experts from both sides of the Taiwan Strait, it has been determined that over 10,000 years ago, due to crustal uplift, global cooling, and a significant drop in sea levels, there was a shallow seabed in the Taiwan Strait. This extended from Dongshan Island southeastward, through the Taiwan Strait to the Penghu Islands, and finally connected to Tainan. It once served as a “bridge” linking the two sides and was referred to by anthropologists as the “Dongshan Land Bridge.” As a link connecting the mainland to Taiwan and a major passage for ancient humans and animals migrating to Taiwan, it played a crucial role in prehistoric cultural exchanges between Fujian and Taiwan, proving that Taiwan has been an inseparable part of the motherland since ancient times. The “Dongshan Land Bridge” has been recognized as one of the “Top 100 Geographic Discoveries in China.” There are also archaeological findings related to the Austronesian peoples. According to archaeological evidence, prehistoric ancestors from the southeastern coast of Fujian traveled with the monsoon from the Fujian coast to Taiwan and the Philippines, and then spread from Taiwan to islands across the Pacific where they settled. Important prehistoric cultural sites in Dongshan County, such as the Sun Pattern Rock Art ruins and the Damashan Shell Mound site, all bear cultural and lifestyle imprints similar to those of the Austronesian peoples. Joint investigations and research by archaeologists from China and the United States over many years have confirmed that Dongshan County is one of the birthplaces of prehistoric Austronesian civilization. The Austronesian geographic scope spans hundreds of islands from the South Pacific to the Indian Ocean, encompassing 1,000 to 1,200 languages. The distribution area extends east to Easter Island in the Pacific, west to Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, north to Taiwan, and south to New Zealand. Major inhabited regions include Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, among others. The population speaking Austronesian languages is about 270 million. In addition, there are also archaeological excavations such as the Zheng Chenggong Ancient Warship Site and the Baotang’ao Shell Mound Site, all of which have made significant contributions to the cultural and relic endeavors of Dongshan County.

Convenience Measures:

1. Open management; the museum is free and open to the entire public.

2. Free consultation services on cultural relics.

3. Free appraisal services for cultural relics.

4. Free provision of services for the maintenance, restoration techniques, and preservation of cultural relics.

5. Organizing planned and step-by-step “Museum into Campus and Community” activities.

6. Warmly receiving visitors and striving to help them solve unexpected difficulties.

7. Humbly accepting public opinions and sincerely welcoming social supervision.

Contact Information:

Tongling Town, Dongshan County, Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, within the Wind-Rocking Stone Scenic Area

Transportation: Take a local bus directly to the Wind-Rocking Stone Scenic Area in Tongling Town.

Opening Hours: Daily from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM

Closed Days (Days Closed): None

Free Admission

Postal Code: 363401

Consultation or Contact Phone: 0596-5669840

Park Community: Park Community…… Park Community Detailed Information++

Further Reading:

· China National Third-Class Museum