Zhongxiang City Museum / Zhongxiang Museum

　　The predecessor of Zhongxiang City Museum was an exhibition room for cultural relics established in the early 1950s within the Zhongxiang County Cultural Center, located at the old county town’s Shanxi-Shaanxi Guild Hall. In 1959, it moved to Wujun Academy, and in 1961, it relocated again to the County Auditorium. In 1977, with the approval of the Zhongxiang County People's Government, the Zhongxiang County Library and Museum was established, sharing office space with the Zhongxiang County Library. In February 1979, the Zhongxiang County Museum was approved by the Zhongxiang County Revolutionary Committee. In March 1980, the Zhongxiang County Museum officially separated from the library, relocating to the Yuanyou Palace — a complex of ancient Ming and Qing buildings. Exhibitions included “Special Exhibition of Historical Relics of Zhongxiang — A National Historic and Cultural City,” “Exhibition of Qing Dynasty Female Mummies,” “Exhibition of Calligraphy and Paintings Through the Ages,” and “Exhibition of Revolutionary Cultural Relics.” It has been open to the public year-round.

　　Development History

　　The predecessor of Zhongxiang City Museum was an exhibition room for cultural relics established in the early 1950s within the Zhongxiang County Cultural Center, located at the old county town’s Shanxi-Shaanxi Guild Hall.

　　In 1959, it moved to Wujun Academy, and in 1961, it relocated again to the County Auditorium.

　　In 1977, with the approval of the Zhongxiang County People's Government, the Zhongxiang County Library and Museum was established, sharing office space with the Zhongxiang County Library.

　　In February 1979, the Zhongxiang County Museum was approved by the Zhongxiang County Revolutionary Committee.

　　In March 1980, the Zhongxiang County Museum officially separated from the library, relocating to the Yuanyou Palace — a complex of ancient Ming and Qing buildings.

　　Architectural Layout

　　The newly completed Zhongxiang Museum has a total investment of 60 million yuan, covering an area of 80,040 square meters, with the main building spanning 10,000 square meters and an exhibition area of over 3,300 square meters. Its design concept is themed around Ming culture, and the style is garden-inspired and multifunctional.

　　The entire structure resembles a seal stamp in a landscape painting. Its layout draws on the skeleton of a traditional Chinese seal character, forming a “Ming” structure — with the “sun” character-shaped main building and the “moon” character-shaped auxiliary building. The whole museum is immersed in a landscape water pool, creating the outer garden. The outdoor corridor and open space between the main and auxiliary buildings form the inner garden, evoking the spatial imagery of a garden within a garden. The sides of the building feature scenic windows, corridors, and terraces, predominantly in elegant gray and white tones — white on the outside and gray inside. The entrance and exit are fitted with bronze doors engraved with the Chinese character “dragon.”

　　The overall functions are divided into five zones: exhibition area, collection storage area, technical protection area, public service area, and administrative office area, making it one of Zhongxiang’s landmark buildings. The museum houses five permanent exhibitions: the Ming Emperors Hall, the Chu Culture Hall, the Ceramics and Calligraphy & Painting Treasures Hall, the Longevity Culture Hall, and the Li Ji Memorial Hall, as well as temporary exhibition halls and a multimedia hall.

　　Among the exhibition halls, the most distinctive is the Li Ji Memorial Hall. Li Ji, a native of Zhongxiang, was China’s first overseas Ph.D. in anthropology and a founding figure in Chinese archaeology, often hailed as the “Father of Chinese Archaeology.” He presided over 14 excavations at the Yinxu ruins in Anyang, Henan, collecting a large amount of oracle bone script material, transforming the history of the Shang Dynasty from legend into verified history and pushing back the recorded history of China to 3,000 years ago.

　　Zhongxiang is a national historical and cultural city with rich cultural relics. The city has 537 cultural heritage sites, including the World Cultural Heritage Site Xianling Tomb, three national key cultural relics protection units, and 20 provincial-level ones. The national treasure of the provincial museum — the blue-and-white “Four Loves” plum vase from the Yuan Dynasty — was unearthed from the tomb of Prince Jing of Ying in Zhongxiang during the Ming Dynasty.

　　Address: No. 48, Yuanyou Road, Zhongxiang City, Jingmen, Hubei Province

　　Opening Hours:

　　Off-season: 8:30–11:30, 14:30–17:30; Peak season: 8:00–11:30, 14:00–17:30; Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays

　　Transportation

　　Take bus routes 1 or 2 to the Swimming Pool or Lishuo Bridge