Huanggang Museum

Huanggang Museum

Huanggang Museum is a national AAA-level tourist attraction and a patriotic education base.

Huanggang Museum, located in the provincial-level cultural city of Huangzhou, was established in 1957. In 1958, Dong Biwu personally inscribed the museum’s name. The museum currently houses a collection of 18,574 cultural relics, including 19 first-class national relics and over 1,000 relics of third-class or higher.

For a long time, Huanggang Museum has undertaken the investigation, exploration, and excavation of underground cultural relics across the city. In support of national and local economic development, especially in major projects such as the Beijing-Kowloon Railway, Wuhan-Macheng Expressway, Wuhan-Yingtan Expressway, and Wuhan-Hefei Railway, the museum carried out extensive cultural relic protection work and excavated hundreds of valuable and high-quality cultural relics.

The newly built Huanggang Museum officially opened to the public on September 22, 2012, and is committed to inheriting Chinese civilization and promoting national culture with a brand-new spirit and development philosophy, making its due contribution.

Permanent Exhibitions

Ancient Homeland

Introduces the history of the prehistoric period when the ancestors of Huanggang lived by fishing, hunting, gathering, and labor. Large-scale scenes are used to fully restore prehistoric sites.

Southern Land of the Yue

Highlights the unique status and cultural features of Huanggang during the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, when it was part of the southern territories of the Shang and Zhou and amid the contention of feudal states. Displays actual Shang and Zhou bronze ware, restores the scene of the Battle of Boju, a Western Zhou architectural model from Maojiazui in Qichun, and the large tomb of the Warring States period in Yuwangcheng.

Cultural Fusion

Covers the history of early migration, continuous warfare, and cultural integration in Huanggang during the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties periods. Features scenes such as “The Barbarians of the Five Rivers” and “Han Tomb Models,” and exhibits over 100 precious cultural relics including Han and Wei dynasty bronzeware and Six Dynasties celadon.

Flourishing Culture and Martial Prowess

Focuses on the history of Huanggang from the Sui and Tang to the Ming and Qing dynasties, a period marked by the emergence of notable figures, cultural prosperity, martial strength, and economic development. Showcases nearly 100 exquisite jade and gold artifacts.

A Century of Upheaval

Primarily showcases the development of Huanggang’s commerce and economy against the backdrop of dramatic historical changes in modern times. Highlights the fame of the “Huangzhou Business Group” across Sichuan and Shaanxi; significant progress in modern education, with the “Provincial Second High School” renowned nationwide; and the emergence of numerous talents and a flourishing cultural scene in Huanggang.

Museum Collection – “Pale Yellow Glazed Covered Jar with Hidden Patterns” (Figure 2)

Museum Collection – “Pale Yellow Glazed Covered Jar with Hidden Patterns” (Figure 2)

Transforming the World

Narrates the red revolutionary history of Huanggang. Covers major historical events such as the Huangma Uprising, the establishment of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Revolutionary Base, the founding of the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army, the establishment of the Eastern Hubei Anti-Japanese Democratic Base, the Central China Breakthrough, the Liu-Deng Army’s Advance into the Dabie Mountains, and the Second Front of the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign.

Huanggang Ancient City Exhibition

Centered around the chronological development of Huanggang’s history, the exhibition uses cultural relics, graphic materials, model sand tables, and scenes to display the long development history of important urban structures within the region, such as the Western Zhou castle at Yujiazhai in Macheng, the Jinluojia Site, the Eastern Zhou city site of Yuwangcheng in Huangzhou, Luozhou City and Zhoushi City in Qichun, and especially the ancient city of Huangzhou. It restores two major war scenes—the Battle of Zhucheng and the Defense of Luozhou City—to illustrate the dialectical impact of war on urban development. Large sand tables of the Eastern Zhou Yuwangcheng and the Qing Dynasty Huangzhou City visually reflect the evolution of Huangzhou’s ancient city. From the unique perspective of urban distribution and development, the exhibition helps visitors understand the process of urban civilization in Huanggang and experience its profound cultural heritage.

Temporary Exhibition Hall

Hosts exhibitions irregularly, including joint calligraphy exhibitions of four cities, fine collections of folk art, the large-scale traditional Chinese painting scroll “Twelve Scenic Spots of Reminiscence,” the “Children’s Painting Exhibition for Children’s Day” featuring works by a thousand children, and fine ceramic art exhibitions from Jingdezhen.

Museum Collection Artifacts

Xugongmai Bronze

From the Spring and Autumn period. The rectangular fu (food vessel) has a flat mouth, sloping lower belly, flat base with L-shaped four feet, and symmetrical loop handles on both sides of the upper and lower sections. Except for the base, the entire body is adorned with intricate coiled dragon patterns. The inner bottom of both the upper and lower lids bears inscriptions of 35 characters in eight lines each.

Bird-Handle Lid “Five Zhu” Inscribed Three-Legged Round Stone Inkstone

Eastern Han Dynasty. The inkstone is generally round in shape, consisting of three parts: the body, the lid, and the stone slab. The center of the inside of the lid is engraved with a square in intaglio, flanked by the characters “五铢” (wǔ zhū, a type of ancient Chinese coin) on the sides. A relief carving of a bird adorns the lid.

Ming Dynasty, covered jar with pale yellow glaze and hidden decoration. The interior and exterior of the vessel are entirely coated with a pale yellow glaze. Designs are carved beneath the glaze: the lid features a carved dragon pattern, the shoulder is encircled with entwined lotus scrolls, the rest of the body is covered with undulating waves and sea patterns, and the base has the six-character reign mark “大明嘉靖年制” (Made in the Jiajing Reign of the Great Ming) in regular script, carved within double circles beneath the glaze.

Further reading:

· National Second-Class Museum of China