1.
Beijing Ancient Observatory
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The Beijing Ancient Observatory is a pretelescopic observatory located in Beijing, China. The observatory was built in 1442 during the Ming dynasty, and it received major reorganization and many new, more accurate instruments from Europeans in 1644. As one of the oldest observatories in the world, the Beijing Ancient Observatory grounds cover an area of 10,000 square meters. The observatory itself is located on a 40 by 40 wide meter on a 15 meter tall brick tower, several of the bronze astronomical instruments are on the platform, and other armillary spheres, sundials, and other instruments are located nearby at ground level. It is operated as a museum in affiliation with the Beijing Planetarium and it was said that in 1227, the Jin dynasty transferred the ancient astronomical instruments from Kaifeng to the first observatory in Beijing. In 1279, the succeeding Mongols under Kublai Khan built a new observatory just north of the current observatory. Kublai Khan made his chief adviser of hydraulics, mathematics and astronomy, Guo Shoujing, director of the observatory in 1283 after the death of Guos friend, after the Mongols, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding Ming Emperor, transferred the instruments from Beijing to Nanjing. When the Yongle Emperor came to power, he had craftsmen make copies of the instruments in Nanjing, the current observatory was completed in 1442. It assisted the Ming and Qing astronomers in their reports for the Emperor. As he was considered the Son of Heaven, the movements of the bodies were an important affair. Another function was to assist sea navigation, with Muslim scholars recruited for their expertise in the area, in the mid-17th century, after winning an astronomy contest, the Jesuit Ferdinand Verbiest was awarded complete charge of the astronomy observatory by the emperor. In 1673, he supervised the rebuilding of some of the instruments and he and other Jesuits helped to further develop the observations of the stars and the planets. During the later stages of the Qing dynasty, members of the Eight-Nation Alliance stole some of the instruments, however, as World War I drew to a close, the instruments were returned to China by the French and German governments. An early seismograph of Zhang Hengs design used to be housed at the observatory, some of the instruments from the Ming era are now at Purple Mountain Observatory in Nanjing. The Beijing Railway Station and the Ming City Wall Relics Park are a short walk to the south
2.
Beijing Museum of Natural History
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The Beijing Museum of Natural History is located at 126 Tian Qiao Nan Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing,100050, and is the most popular natural history museum in China. It was founded in 1951 as the National Central Museum of Natural History, the BMNH is the first large scale natural history museum created in China. The BMNH has total floor space of 24,000 square meters, of which 8,000 square meters are available for display, the major display area is the Tian Jiabing Building. The collections include paleontology, ornithology, mammals and invertebrates, and include a collection of dinosaur fossils. The BMNH also engages in significant scientific research in these areas, List of museums in China List of natural history museums Official website
3.
China Railway Museum
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The China Railway Museum is a Chinese museum preserving locomotives built in the Peoples Republic of China since 1949. The museum offers an exhibition space of 16500m² and 8 exhibition tracks. The museum is located in Chaoyang District of Beijing City, some 15 km northeast of downtown Beijing and it also has a branch in downtown Beijing, in the former Zhengyangmen East Railway Station near Tiananmen Square. In 2008, the Beijing Railway Museum was opened in 2008 in the former Zhengyangmen East Railway Station of the Jingfeng Railway, in October 2010, Beijing Railway Museum was renamed to the Zhengyangmen Branch of the China Railway Museum. List of museums in China Ministry of Railways of the Peoples Republic of China
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Chinese Aviation Museum
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The Chinese Aviation Museum, sometimes referred to as the China Aviation Museum and the Datangshan Aviation Museum, is an aviation museum close to Beijing in China. The museum was first opened to the public on 11 November 1989, the museum is located 40 km north of Beijing city. Part of the museum is located inside a cave in the side of Datangshan Mountain, the cavern was originally part of the tunnels and underground bunker system of Shahezhen Airbase, and is 586 metres long by 11 metres high by 40 metres wide. The road leading to the museum is also used as a taxiway between the base and bunker system. The entrance fee is RMB ¥50 for the displays, and some smaller exhibits inside the museum, such as the Orbis flying hospital airplane or Maos airplane. However, the displays are free to enter. There are more than 200 aircraft on display, with an emphasis on the Korean War, the collection includes many unique machines, including a 1903 Wright Flyer replica
5.
Geological Museum of China
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The Geological Museum of China, built in 1916, is a geological museum, boasting 200 thousand specimens. This museum is located in the Xisi area of Beijing and opened on October 1,1959 and it is the earliest geological scientific museum of China. At present, the Geological Museum of China has more than 100,000 geological specimens, list of museums in China China Geological Survey Bureau China University of Geosciences Geological Museum of China information in English Geological Museum of China home page
6.
Guanfu Museum
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Guanfu Museum is an art museum in Beijing, China. It was founded by Ma Weidu in 18th 1997, and it was among the first private museums in the Peoples Republic of China, the Guanfu Museum is a non-profit organization and it has a qualification of Independent Legal Entity. The museum was moved to Nanxiaojie Street and again to Dashanzi in 2004. The Ceramics Hall exhibits are masterpieces of antique Chinese ceramics that span more than 1,000 years, within this exhibition, the categories include celadon, monochrome glaze and polychrome glaze, tri-colored pottery, under glaze cobalt-blue and under glaze copper red, famille-rose. China has a history of furniture-making. Furniture from the Ming and Qing periods in many ways represent the culmination of Chinese furniture-making skills, Ming furniture features simple, smooth, and flowing lines, and plain and elegant ornamentation, fully bringing out the special qualities of frame-structure furniture. Because of the level of development of Chinese furniture in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Furniture gallery in Guanfu Museum contains 6 smaller exhibiting halls, on the second floor there is an exhibition of finely carved doors and window frames. There is also new addition of a collection of oil paintings, a adult ticket to this museum costs 50 RMB. Half-price ticket,25 RMB per person includes seniors, students, teachers, soldiers, the disabled and the staff in museum and heritage institution. Free admission for children under 1. 2m in height, group tour and English tour are available everyday. Making reservation is recommended at least one day in advance, with prior appointment, the museum offers authentication with a price on objects such as ceramics and wood furniture. With extra fees, certificate can be provided on objects authenticated, the museum does not offer financial appraisal or evaluation. The Guanfu Museum now has branches in Shanghai, Hangzhou and Xiamen, with branches planned in Haerbin, List of museums in China List of museums in Beijing
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Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution
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Military Museum of the Chinese Peoples Revolution or China Peoples Revolution Military Museum is located in Haidian District, Beijing, China. The museum displays restored military equipment from the history of the Peoples Liberation Army, up to and including modern-day machinery. One of the Ten Great Buildings erected in celebration of the anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, construction of the museum began in October 1958. The museums four floors include ten halls, the largest of which is the Hall of Weapons, in addition, the Hall of Weapons displays equipment from Chinas space program, such as satellites and a two-seat orbital capsule. With two exceptions, the halls are largely historical exhibits, combining plaster sculptures, maps, paintings, artifacts, movies. The museum is accessible by Line 1 of the Beijing Subway at the Military Museum Station and city bus routes 1,4,21,65,68,205,308,320,337,617,728, and 802. List of museums in China http, //www. china. org. cn/english/kuaixun/73574. htm
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National Art Museum of China
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The National Art Museum of China is located at 1 Wusi Ave, Dongcheng District, Beijing, Peoples Republic of China. It is one of the largest art museums in China, and is funded by the Ministry of Culture, the construction of the museum started in 1958, and concluded in 1962. It has a land area of 30,000 square metres. The museum was renovated between May 2004 and January 2005, and has given an additional area of 5,375 square metres. Its permanent collection includes ancient and contemporary Chinese artworks as well as notable Western artworks. It has a building of four stories, the first three being display areas. There are 21 exhibition halls at the museum, the museum will be built in collaboration with the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design. List of museums in China Official website of NAMOC
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National Museum of China
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The National Museum of China flanks the eastern side of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. The museums mission is to educate about the arts and history of China and it is directed by the Ministry of Culture of the Peoples Republic of China. It is one of the largest museums in the world, the building was completed in 1959 as one of the Ten Great Buildings celebrating the ten-year anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China. It complements the opposing Great Hall of the People that was built at the same time, the structure sits on 6.5 hectares and has a frontal length of 313 metres, a height of four stories totaling 40 metres, and a width of 149 metres. The front displays eleven square pillars at its center and it has a total floor space of nearly 200,000 m2 to display. The renovations were designed by the German firm Gerkan, Marg, the museum, covering Chinese history from the Yuanmou Man of 1. However Yves Carcelle, Chairman and Chief executive officer of Louis Vuitton Malletier defended the exhibition by stating, I think before money, theres history,157 years of creativity and craftsmanship
10.
Forbidden City
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The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty—the years 1420 to 1912. It is located in the center of Beijing, China, and it served as the home of emperors and their households as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government for almost 500 years. Constructed from 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 buildings, the palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture, and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, part of the museums former collection is now located in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Both museums descend from the institution, but were split after the Chinese Civil War. With over 14.6 million annual visitors, the Palace Museum is the most visited art museum in the world, the common English name, the Forbidden City, is a translation of the Chinese name Zijin Cheng. The name Zijin Cheng first formally appeared in 1576, another English name of similar origin is Forbidden Palace. The name Zijin Cheng is a name with significance on many levels, zi, or Purple, refers to the North Star, which in ancient China was called the Ziwei Star, and in traditional Chinese astrology was the heavenly abode of the Celestial Emperor. The surrounding celestial region, the Ziwei Enclosure, was the realm of the Celestial Emperor, the Forbidden City, as the residence of the terrestrial emperor, was its earthly counterpart. Jin, or Forbidden, referred to the fact no one could enter or leave the palace without the emperors permission. Today, the site is most commonly known in Chinese as Gùgōng, the museum which is based in these buildings is known as the Palace Museum. When Hongwu Emperors son Zhu Di became the Yongle Emperor, he moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, construction lasted 14 years and required more than a million workers. Material used include whole logs of precious Phoebe zhennan wood found in the jungles of south-western China, the floors of major halls were paved with golden bricks, specially baked paving bricks from Suzhou. From 1420 to 1644, the Forbidden City was the seat of the Ming dynasty, in April 1644, it was captured by rebel forces led by Li Zicheng, who proclaimed himself emperor of the Shun dynasty. He soon fled before the armies of former Ming general Wu Sangui and Manchu forces. By October, the Manchus had achieved supremacy in northern China, the Qing rulers changed the names on some of the principal buildings, to emphasise Harmony rather than Supremacy, made the name plates bilingual, and introduced Shamanist elements to the palace. In 1860, during the Second Opium War, Anglo-French forces took control of the Forbidden City, in 1900 Empress Dowager Cixi fled from the Forbidden City during the Boxer Rebellion, leaving it to be occupied by forces of the treaty powers until the following year. Under an agreement with the new Republic of China government, Puyi remained in the Inner Court, while the Outer Court was given over to public use, the Palace Museum was then established in the Forbidden City in 1925
11.
Paleozoological Museum of China
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The Paleozoological Museum of China is a museum in Beijing, China. The same building houses the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology. The museum containing exhibition halls with specimens aimed at the public, the main building consists of three floors, with the first floor devoted primarily to fishes and amphibians, with reptiles and birds represented on the second floor, and mammals on the third floor. Many of the specimens on display are of extinct animals examples of which have only been found within the boundaries of modern-day China. It also has examples of the evolutionary precursors to birds, including specimens of Confuciusornis and Microraptor. An adjoining gallery to the main floor looks at the origins of man, including information on Peking Man and it also contains a number of stone tools used by paleolithic peoples, and examples of other, later fossil skulls from early homonids who once inhabited the area. The collection is significant as it contains many holotypes that were used in scientific journals to describe a number of ancient extinct lines of creatures unique to China. List of museums in China The Paleozoological Museum of China The Paleozoological Museum of China Paleozoological Museum of China USA Today Forget Indiana Jones, Dinosaur hunter Xu digs it
