Hedong Museum

　　   The Hedong Museum is located on Hongqi Road in Yuncheng City. It was planned and established in March 1979, originally situated at the Guan Di Temple in Jiezhou. On October 1, 1986, the new museum building was completed and officially opened to the public. It is a museum with distinctive local characteristics of Hedong and is affiliated with the Yuncheng City Cultural Relics Bureau. The museum faces south and covers a land area of 10,655 square meters, with a construction area of over 2,000 square meters. Its overall layout is divided into front and rear sections: the front part houses the exhibition and office areas, while the rear section is the living area. Major structures include an ancient-style gate tower, east and west wing rooms, a stele corridor, an exhibition hall building, a collection storage facility, and office buildings. The front courtyard features rockeries, ponds, shrubs, and unusual stones, creating a pleasant environment. The ancient-style gate tower was relocated from the Ming-era Jingyi Pavilion of the former Yuncheng Confucian Temple. The 15-room stele corridor displays ancient epitaphs and stone carvings collected over the years, many of which are outstanding pieces. Among them, the “Dragon Gate Panorama Stone Carving” vividly depicts the former splendor of Longmen.

　　   The museum has a storage area of 200 square meters and has excavated and collected over 7,000 items of various types from the Hedong region, including 250 precious cultural relics. These comprise stoneware, bone tools, ceramics, bronzes, jade artifacts, lacquerware, sculptures, ancient coins, paintings, calligraphy, embroidery, and stone inscriptions. The museum’s exhibition hall spans an area of 1,000 square meters. In recent years, it has hosted and introduced a variety of exhibitions such as “The Soul of Hongyan” and “The Stone Coffin and Line Engraving Art Exhibition of the Tang Dynasty Xue Jing Tomb.” The “Guan Yu Culture Exhibition” was exhibited in Taiwan in 1997. The “Exhibition of Fine Historical Stone Inscriptions from Hedong Through the Ages” was nominated for the 2000 National Top Ten Museum Exhibition Awards. The museum has also compiled and published several works, including the Museum Journal, “Historical Evolution of the Yuncheng Region,” “Famous People and Scenic Spots in the Yuncheng Region,” “Selected Histories of Hedong Through the Ages,” “Highlights of Hedong Cultural Relics,” and “Guan Yu: Human, Deity, and Saint.” Nearly 100 academic articles have been included in publications both domestically and internationally, and featured in newspapers and periodicals at all levels. In 1995, it was designated as a Provincial Patriotic Education Base by the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government.

　　   (No images available at present; contributions are welcome.)