China’s First Sino-Japanese War Museum

China’s First Sino-Japanese War Museum

China’s First Sino-Japanese War Museum serves as a patriotic education base and a national defense education base.

China’s First Sino-Japanese War Museum opened on March 21, 1985. On April 25, 1992, with approval from the national cultural relics authorities, the Weihai Beiyang Fleet Admiralty Cultural Relics Management Office was renamed China’s First Sino-Japanese War Museum. In June 2009, it was renamed China’s First Sino-Japanese War Museum. The current name is China’s First Sino-Japanese War Museum. The museum is located in the Beiyang Fleet Admiralty and its affiliated buildings on Liugong Island. It is a modern commemorative site museum themed around the Beiyang Fleet and the First Sino-Japanese War. It is responsible for the management and protection of 28 cultural heritage sites related to the Beiyang Fleet and the First Sino-Japanese War within the “Liugong Island First Sino-Japanese War Memorial Site,” which is a national key cultural relic protection unit. Its functions also include collecting and preserving artifacts, technological preservation, exhibitions, and public education. The museum houses over 1,000 historical photos, more than 200 cultural relics and documents related to the Beiyang Fleet and the First Sino-Japanese War, over 300 salvaged shipwreck relics, and 70 first-class relics.

Since its establishment, under the correct leadership of the Weihai Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, and with the care, guidance, support, and assistance of national, provincial, and municipal cultural relics authorities as well as all sectors of society, our museum has consistently adhered to the work guideline of “protection first, rescue foremost, rational utilization, and strengthened management.” Through multiple measures, we are committed to the protection and management of cultural relics. Relying on the cultural resources of the First Sino-Japanese War Memorial Site, we provide patriotic education, coastal defense education, and ocean awareness education to the public, making it a uniquely distinctive patriotic education base. In March 2008, in accordance with central directives, the museum was opened to the public free of charge. In May of the same year, it was listed by the National Cultural Relics Administration as one of the first batch of national first-class museums. Over the past thirty-plus years since its establishment, the museum has consistently upheld its social education mission, focused on building a brand for patriotic education, and gained recognition from all sectors of society. It has successively received honors such as “National Outstanding Social Education Base,” “National Advanced Cultural Collective,” “National Patriotic Education Base,” “National Patriotic Education Demonstration Base,” “National Youth Education Base,” “National Primary and Secondary School Education Base,” “National National Defense Education Practice Base,” “National Overseas Chinese Federation Patriotic Education Base,” “Shandong Provincial Social Education Base for Caring for the Next Generation,” “Shandong Provincial Youth Social Education Base,” and “National Patriotic Education Demonstration Base Advanced Unit.”

Since its opening in 1985, the museum has invested over 200 million yuan in total to renovate, protect, and open up over 100,000 square meters of cultural heritage buildings, including the Beiyang Fleet Admiralty, Liugong Island Naval Academy, and Donghong Battery. This has effectively enriched the connotation of Liugong Island as a national patriotic education base. In 2008, the China’s First Sino-Japanese War Museum Exhibition Hall was completed and opened, with a construction area of over 8,000 square meters and an exhibition area of 4,500 square meters. In 2014, based on the ancient architecture of the Beiyang Fleet Admiralty, a restored exhibition was held. Sixteen halls were restored to their original appearance according to their original functions, covering an exhibition area of over 3,000 square meters, authentically recreating the historical appearance of the Beiyang Fleet during its heyday. It has become a unique and distinctive historical specimen of a Qing Dynasty naval government office in China, further enriching the connotation of our museum as a patriotic education base.

Heritage Exhibition Area

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Naval Academy

The Heritage Exhibition Area includes exhibition venues for First Sino-Japanese War relics such as the Beiyang Fleet Admiralty, Dragon King Temple, Ding Ruchang Memorial Hall, Beiyang Fleet Soldiers Memorial Hall, Liugong Island Naval Academy, Huangdao Battery, Qiding Mountain Battery, and Donghong Battery, covering a total area of 100,000 square meters. The most important basic exhibition is the “Restored Exhibition of the Beiyang Fleet Admiralty.” The Admiralty covers an area of 17,000 square meters and is the only well-preserved Qing Dynasty naval government office in China. This exhibition is a scene display themed around the Qing Dynasty naval office, restoring the various offices within the Admiralty. It mainly uses Qing-style furniture and office furnishings, supplemented by silicone statues, bronze statues, replicas, and historical relics, highlighting the characteristics of the Qing Dynasty naval office from a hundred years ago. The exhibition area spans 7,000 square meters. Among the exhibits is the 210mm German Krupp twin main gun salvaged from the sea from the “Jiyuan” warship, each weighing over 20 tons, the only ones of their kind remaining in the world today, and considered the “treasure of the museum.” The exhibition displays over 260 cultural relics, over 500 auxiliary exhibits, with an exhibition line length of 1,500 linear meters. The main exhibits include Qing-style furniture, historical photos, sculptures, landscapes, and auxiliary artworks.

Historical Exhibition Area

The Historical Exhibition Area mainly consists of the First Sino-Japanese War Exhibition Hall, which displays the basic exhibition titled “National Tragedy • 1894–1895 — The Historical Facts of the First Sino-Japanese War.” It opened to the public in 2008. The exhibition hall has a construction area of 7,500 square meters and an exhibition area of 5,000 square meters. This exhibition showcases over 300 precious cultural relics and more than 650 historical photos of the First Sino-Japanese War. Combined with large-scale paintings such as “The Defense of Liugong Island,” ship models like the “Beiyang Fleet,” hyper-realistic sculptures such as “The Jinzhou Qu Family Throwing Themselves into a Well,” “Li Hongzhang at the Treaty Negotiations in Shimonoseki,” and “Chen Jingying Writing a Family Letter,” as well as multimedia 3D animations like the “Battle of the Yellow Sea,” it artistically presents the war scenes and vividly recreates the tragic history of the First Sino-Japanese War. It extols the patriotism and heroic spirit of soldiers like Ding Ruchang and Deng Shichang, who fought to the death for their country. Since its opening, it has received widespread acclaim from all sectors of society and was awarded the “Top Ten Fine Exhibitions” prize in the “Shandong Provincial Museum and Memorial Hall Top Ten Fine Exhibitions” selection.