Yanchi Museum

Yanchi Museum

Yanchi Museum is located in the southeast corner of Chengguan Town, Yanchi County. It was built in 1951 to commemorate the martyrs from Yanchi who died during the War of Resistance Against Japan and the Liberation War. The memorial tower, rebuilt in 1978, is an octagonal pyramid standing 19 meters tall. Its front side bears the inscription “Eternal Glory to the Revolutionary Martyrs” in the calligraphic style of Mao Zedong. In June 1985, Yanchi County Museum was established, featuring four exhibition halls: historical relics, the life stories of martyrs, revolutionary artifacts, and calligraphy and paintings.

Among the museum’s collections from the Han, Tang, Song, and Xia (Western Xia) dynasties are mainly: pottery pot (Han), crossbow mechanism (Han), painted pottery jar (Northern and Southern Dynasties), brown-glazed caltrops, and brown-glazed camel (Western Xia).

The most famous Qing-Ming dynasty artifact is a palace generator, a gift given to Empress Dowager Cixi by the British for her 60th birthday, and the earliest generator used in China. This generator originally powered the area designated for Cixi’s use in Beijing’s Summer Palace. In 1934, it was sold to Tianjin’s scrap iron bureau to be melted down. Chai Lanting, the deputy director of the Adjutant Office of Ma Hongkui’s 15th Route Army, who was in Beijing purchasing a generator, obtained Ma’s approval and bought this relic from the Qing court. In the spring of 1935, it was transported up the Yellow River on four large wooden boats to Yinchuan, where an electric light company was set up near the southern gate of Yinchuan. In October, the Ningxia Electric Light Co., Ltd., a joint government-private enterprise, began operations and supplied electricity. However, this old generator could not ensure stable power supply, so later Ma Hongkui acquired new generators and sent this one to Wuzhong Fort. After the liberation...

...it was moved again to Yanchi County. After the expansion and renovation of the Yanchi County power plant, it was then transported to the Mahuangshan Township power station. Later, it was reallocated from Mahuangshan Township to the county radio station as a backup generator. In 1987, it was handed over to the county museum for collection.

Modern relics mainly include: genuine calligraphy inscriptions by Mao Zedong and others for Wu Shenghua (from Langbuzhang Village, Huianpu Township, Yanchi County), a three-blue woolen blanket, and genuine works of calligraphy and paintings.

In September 2018, Yanchi County Museum was officially recognized as a National Third-Class Museum by the Chinese Museums Association.

In October 2018, it was named a “2018 National Research and Practice Education Base for Primary and Secondary School Students.”

Further Reading:

· China’s National Third-Class Museums