Youxian County Museum

She County Museum

The She County Museum is a local comprehensive museum located within the Xin’an Stele Garden in She County, Anhui Province. It was planned in February 1958, merged into the county cultural center in 1961, and reinstated in April 1978. Currently staffed by 11 employees, it includes departments for conservation and research, exhibition, security, and museum administration. The newly established Wang Family Calligraphy and Painting Gallery and Metalware Gallery at the She County Museum officially opened to the public on May 18, 2008, becoming new highlights of the museum.

The museum currently houses 30,000 cultural relics and specimens, with ceramics, calligraphy and paintings, and inkstones as its specialties. These include 2,564 pieces of calligraphy and paintings, 722 ceramic items, 19,175 ancient books and rare editions, 432 document archives, and 7,547 other items such as jade artifacts, steles, inkstones, seals, and bronzes. The museum’s ceramic collection is nationally renowned for two batches of unearthed precious Yuan Dynasty ceramics. Its painting and calligraphy collection features masterpieces such as an album by Goudaoren of the Xin’an School, landscape paintings by Huang Binhong, a central scroll by Lin Liang of the Ming Dynasty, a running script work by Zha Shibiao, and a plum blossom and white-headed bird scroll by Chen Jiayan. Among the inkstones are fine pieces like the Tang-style She inkstone and the inkstone inscribed by Wang Tingne. Brick-and-wood carvings in the Huizhou style are also notable. Among the museum’s collections, 74 are classified as national first-class relics, 193 as second-class, and 1,424 as third-class, as authenticated by national and provincial authorities, with some items yet to be evaluated.

Permanent Exhibitions

The "Xin’an Stele Garden Stone Carving Exhibition" is divided into two sets of calligraphy rubbings: "Yuqing Studio" and "Qingjian Hall." "Yuqing Studio" includes both the main and supplementary volumes, featuring works such as the Seventeen Posts, Chiru Posts, Orchid Pavilion Preface, Leye Treatise, Yellow Court Scripture, Boyuan Posts, Mid-Autumn Posts, Jishi Posts, Thousand Character Classic, Duck Head Pill Posts, and Mingyuan Posts. "Qingjian Hall" contains the upper and lower volumes of the main posts of Qingjing Hall. The "Huizhou Three Carvings Exhibition" primarily displays brick, wood, and stone carvings from the Ming and Qing dynasties, as well as ancient architectural components.

The "Historical Relics Exhibition" mainly exhibits the museum's collections of calligraphy and paintings, ceramics, bronzeware, and inkstones.

In September 2018, the She County Museum was officially designated as a National Second-Class Museum by the Chinese Museums Association.

Xin’an Stele Garden, Hexi Road, Huicheng Town, She County, Anhui Province

Transportation: Take bus route 2 to Duo Jingyuan Station, turn right and cross Taiping Bridge to reach the museum.

Opening Hours: Off-season 8:30–17:00; Peak season 7:30–18:00

Closed on Mondays

Further Reading:

· China’s National Second-Class Museums