Museums in China: National Museum of China

Museums in China provides a brief introduction to 43 museums in China’s provinces， autonomous regions， municipalities， and special administrative regions. It also features cultural relics collected by them through pictures and texts， showcasing Chinese civilization. The cultural relics selected for the book are from important periods in ancient and modern Chinese history， and are classified into ceramics， jade， bronze wares， gold and silver wares， calligraphy and paintings. This will help readers deepen their understanding of Chinese history and culture through the museums.

Museums in China：

National Museum of China

Yang Buyi

China Intercontinental Press

July 2022

78.00 （CNY）

Yang Buyi

Yang Buyi is a native of Sichuan and lives in Chengdu. He is a member of the Sichuan Writers Association and Chengdu Writers Association， and he has authored False Single， Men and Women， Living in Alleys， and so on.

As China’s supreme establishment that collects， researches， displays， and interprets Chinese culture， the National Museum of China （NMC） is the world’s largest single-building museum in terms of floor area. It boasts a collection of more than 1.4 million items， covering ancient and modern cultural relics， rare books， works of art， and other collections. The basic display includes “Ancient China，” “The Road to Rejuvenation” and “The Road to Rejuvenation： New Era” while thematic exhibitions cover ancient Chinese bronzes， statues of Buddha， jade， porcelain， national rituals， and modern classic art works， among others. Painted Pottery Basin with Fish and Human Face Design， Eagle-shaped Pottery Ding， Houmuwu Square Cauldron， Four-goat Square Zun， and the oil painting of the founding ceremony of the People’s Republic of China are treasures that visitors should not miss.

Painted Pottery Basin with Fish and Human Face Design

The human face is decorated with fish-shaped patterns at the corners of the mouth， with a fish on each ear. The human face and fish patterns painted in black are symmetrical on the inner wall of the pottery basin. What do they mean？ What do these two big fish with triangular heads and bodies represent？ Unearthed at the Banpo Site of Yangshao Culture in Xi’an city， Shaanxi province， in 1955， this mysterious painted pottery basin collected by NMC is a mystery that needs exploration.

Yangshao Culture is the most important archaeological culture of the Neolithic Age in China and was spread in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and marginal areas. The Painted Pottery Basin with Fish and Human Face Design belongs to this cultural period. In archaeological excavations， when the cover of a child’s urn coffin was lifted， it looked like a red basin with black patterns painted on the wall. These patterns are exquisite and mysterious.

Many similar painted basins were unearthed from Banpo Site. What do these human face and fish patterns stand for？ Why were they painted on the inner wall of the urn coffin cover？ Experts have different opinions but the most popular one is that it is representative of witchcraft. Banpo people worshipped fish totems， and so the wizards dressed up as the fish god to call back the spirit of the dead child.

The Painted Pottery Basin with Fish and Human Face Design is one of the earliest painting works in China， and also an exquisite painted pottery work， reflecting several aspects of Banpo people’s life in the Neolithic Age.

Houmuwu Square Cauldron

In Chinese， there are many idioms about “ding”， such as Yiyan Jiuding （a word which carries weight）， Wending Zhongyuan （the tripod in the central plains—attempt to usurp the throne） and Jiuding Dalu （The nine big tripods which， according to legend， were cast by Yu the Great and handed down from dynasty to dynasty as symbols of imperial authority， and the big bells cast in the Zhou Dynasty—these are very historically significant. This idiom means one’s words carry the weight of nine tripods）. In ancient China， the tripod was a cooking utensil. Later， with the maturity of bronze-casing technology， tripods made of bronze slowly became sacrificial vessels.

Ding has special meaning in the legend. It is said that the founding monarch of the Xia Dynasty， Yu the Great， divided the world into nine states and cast nine tripods （ding） to represent the world after succeeding in controlling floods. Therefore， Jiuding became a symbol of the supremacy of national power and prosperity， and the country’s most important ritual vessel and national treasure.

Houmuwu Square Cauldron housed in NMC is 1.33 meters tall and weighs 832.84 kilograms. Square in shape and covered with exquisite decorations， it is the heaviest known ancient Chinese bronze ware. Archaeologists believe that it was cast in the late Shang Dynasty （approximately 14th to 11th centuries BCE） by Shang King Zu Geng， or Zu Jia， to worship his mother. The discovery of Houmuwu Square Cauldron also confirmed that the superb bronze craftsmanship of the late Shang Dynasty was one of the representatives of Chinese bronze culture.

The vessel got its name because of the three characters “Hou Mu Wu” cast on the belly. But in the very beginning， experts thought that the word “hou” was “si，” so it was originally called “Simuwu Ding.” It was not until the 1970s that Chinese paleontologists reinterpreted the inscriptions on the tripod and renamed it “Houmuwu Square Cauldron.”

Houmuwu Square Cauldron was discovered by a farmer in 1939， Wuguan Village， Anyang city， Henan province， near the Yinxu Ruins. Yin was the capital of the late Shang Dynasty in China as well as the political， economic， cultural， and military center.

Pottery Storyteller Beating a Drum

It’s a pottery comedian figure from the Han Dynasty. The first impression is he must be “happy.” His chest and belly are bare， he shrugs his shoulders and wears trousers with bare feet. He holds a flat drum in his left arm and a drumstick in his right hand as if to beat the drum. He laughs merrily and his movement is so exaggerated that wrinkles appear on his forehead. It might be the climax of a performance in which he sees the audience burst out laughing in front of him.

The Han Dynasty was the first period of prosperity in feudal China， with a developed economy， and people living and working in peace and contentment. Story-telling performances were extremely popular and comedians were in vogue. At that time， it was common for the imperial family， aristocrats， and rich and powerful officials to patronize comedians and keep them around for fun.

The Pottery Storyteller Beating a Drum was unearthed from a cliff tomb of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Tianhui town， Chengdu， Sichuan province， in 1957. It is 56 cm tall and made from muddy gray pottery. The facial expression of the figure is rich and delicate. It is a charming work of pottery performing figures of the Han Dynasty.

The pottery figure not only boasts a very high level of sculpture art， but also vividly shows the development of “Baixi，” especially the art of story-telling in the Han Dynasty. In the Han Dynasty， people broke through the shackles of Zhou and music rituals， and various folk art forms that ordinary people liked emerged.

At the same time， the pottery figure is an excellent sculpture with a distinctive folk and local style. A number of similar pottery figures have also been excavated from tombs of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Sichuan province， indicating the popularity of such story-telling performances in Sichuan. This pottery figurine is often used as an example to describe the optimistic and humorous character of Sichuan people.

Sancai-glazed Pottery Musicians on Camelback

The Sancai-glazed Pottery Musicians on Camelback consists of a 58.4-cm tall two-humped camel and a five-member performance troupe. Performers， including Hu and Han people， sit or stand on the camel’s back. One performer stands and dances while the other four sit playing musical instruments， looking like a band on camel’s back performing on the bustling street in Chang’an. Shaanxi History Museum has a similar pottery camel， with eight members of the troupe.

In the Tang Dynasty， amid frequent international exchanges， exotic dances and music were introduced along the Silk Road， and folk operas were integrated with acrobatics， martial arts， magic， and exotic music. The singing and dancing performances on camelback that integrate acrobatics were also thrilling and popular with audiences.

“Tang San Cai，” or Tricolor Glazed Pottery， is a unique low-temperature glazed pottery craft from the Tang Dynasty， named after the three colors of green， yellow， and blue. The Sancai-glazed Musicians on Camelback is funerary， which shows that the tomb owner hoped to take what they liked to the underworld and continue enjoying it after death.