Museum of the Han Dynasty Princess

Museum of the Han Dynasty Princess

The Museum of the Han Dynasty Princess serves as a patriotic education base.

The Museum of the Han Dynasty Princess in Yining City was established by the government of the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture and is now directly under the jurisdiction of the Cultural Relics Management Office under the prefecture’s Culture and Sports Bureau. The museum is located on the east side of Jiangsu Avenue in Yining, covering an area of about ten acres. It is a complex of imitation Han-style ancient architecture, consisting of one main exhibition hall, two auxiliary halls, and attached corridors. Currently, the upper and lower two floors of the main exhibition hall are open to visitors.

The museum was built to commemorate two Han dynasty princesses from Yangzhou and Xuzhou in Jiangsu—Liu Xijun and Liu Jieyou. In the early Western Han Dynasty, the northern Xiongnu frequently invaded Han border regions. At that time, the Wusun Kingdom, located in the Ili River basin, was the most powerful state among the Western Regions. To ally with the Wusun against the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, appointed Xijun, the daughter of Liu Jian, King of Jiangdu, as a princess and had her married to the Wusun king (Kunmo), Liejiaomi. Princess Xijun became the first Han princess to be married off to the Western Regions along the Silk Road. Together with the Wusun king, she governed the state and introduced advanced agricultural practices, metallurgy, and architectural techniques from the Central Plains to the Wusun, promoting its economic development. After Princess Xijun passed away, Emperor Wu appointed Jieyou, the granddaughter of King Liu Wu of Chu, as a princess and had her marry the Wusun king Junxumi. Princess Jieyou, with her remarkable talents, played an active role on the political stage of the Wusun, facilitating political, military, and cultural exchanges and cooperation between the Han Dynasty and the states of the Western Regions. This helped consolidate and strengthen relations, ultimately leading to the establishment of the Protectorate of the Western Regions in 60 BCE. Moreover, Princess Jieyou sent her maid Feng Liao as an envoy bearing the Han imperial seal to various Western Region states, strengthening alliances and earning their respect and trust, earning her the title “Lady Feng.”

Around 118 BCE, during Zhang Qian’s second mission to the Western Regions, the King of the Wusun, Kunmo, requested a marriage alliance with the Han court. Xijun, the daughter of Liu Jian, King of Jiangdu (modern-day Yangzhou), and Jieyou, the granddaughter of Liu Wu, King of Chu (modern-day Xuzhou), were successively married to the Wusun king. The marriage of the Han princesses Xijun and Jieyou to the Western Regions left a timeless tale in Ili’s history. Two thousand years later, the Museum of the Han Dynasty Princess allows people to see the elegance and legacy of these two historic figures.

The Museum of the Han Dynasty Princess was built with assistance from Jiangsu Province. Located beside Jiangsu Avenue in Yining, it covers an area of 7,000 square meters, with a building area of 1,791 square meters and a main exhibition space of over 500 square meters. The entire architectural complex features distinct Han-style design, with a floor plan divided into a main exhibition hall and four auxiliary halls, along with Han que gates, pavilions, corridors, and sculptures.

Centered around the themes of Princesses Xijun and Jieyou’s marriages to the Wusun, the museum comprehensively reflects the political, economic, and cultural activities of the Western Han central government in the Western Regions, as well as the conditions of the various states there at the time. Through sculptures, wax figures, artworks, maps, reproductions of cultural relics, and literary works, it illustrates the historical process of the Western Regions becoming part of China, using historical facts to demonstrate that Xinjiang has been an inseparable part of China’s territory since ancient times.

Transportation

: Take bus No. 3 or 8 in the city and get off at Yimin Timber Factory Station; alternatively, take bus No. 12 and get off at the Prefecture Maternal and Child Health Hospital Station.