     The Shanxi Museum is located in a modern four-storey building situated at a prime location along the Fen River in central Taiyuan and features a very impressive collection of artifacts from this history-heavy province. Chinese civilization first began to develop in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces along the banks of the Yellow River , and this handsome provincial museum features the best of the historical artifacts from around the province.

     The museum—which relocated to this spacious, purpose-built facility in 2005—has on display thousands of objects in a series of well laid out exhibition halls. On the second floor is a gallery (“The Cradle of Civilization”) with a collection of relics from the Paleolithic and Neolithic ages. Over 300 Paleolithic sites have been identified in Shanxi , more ancient sites than in any other province. Also on this floor are permanent exhibits on “The Traces of the Xia and Shang Dynasties” and “The Achievements of the Jin Kingdoms.”

     Other galleries in the building are devoted to ancient Chinese porcelain, Chinese painting and calligraphy, jades, and bronzes. There is also an extensive exhibit of Chinese currency, tracing the development of money in China from before the Qin Dynasty (221 BC) up until the Qing Dynasty (1911 CE), including both coins and banknotes. On the same floor there is also an exhibit on historical architecture, with intricate wooden models of many of the key temples and structures found in Shanxi . (If you do not have time to visit the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda near Datong , for instance, here you can see a high quality miniature version.)

     As might be expected in the province which is home to the spectacular grottoes of Yungang and Tianlongshan, there is a also a display of Buddhist stone sculptures, nicely presented in showcases reminiscent of the grottoes in which these masterpieces were originally located.

     Of particular note is a display on “Shanxi Merchants” on the third floor. This exhibit is particularly worth seeing for those who do not have the time to go to Pingyao, and it features a detailed description of how merchants from central Shanxi developed nationwide and international networks to trade various commodities. It tracks the development of the piaohao , the Shanxi-based remittance houses which were the predecessors to today’s commercial banks, and a life-like model of “Ri Sheng Chang,” the first piaohao , is also on display.

     Unfortunately, this splendid museum is little known by overseas visitors and is not well promoted. Those who do visit, however, will be treated to a range of exhibits on a wide variety of subjects spanning the full 5000 years of Chinese history.

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The Shanxi Museum is located on the western bank of the Fen River in central Taiyuan at 13 Binhe Xi Lu, Beiduan. Its website, currently only in Chinese, can be found at www.shanximuseum.com.cn .

Last edited on Nov 3, 09 5:00 AM.
Contributors: Heather P. Show History

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Heather P.

Nov 3, 2009

This is a real gem of a museum. As it is located on the Yellow River, Shanxi is where Chinese civilization first began to develop. The result is that Shanxi has an unparalleled collection of relics which have surfaced over the years, and the Shanxi provincial government have centralized their collections in this recently built, modern museum. The curators have taken great care to label everything, and most items have labels in English as well as in Chinese. It is reminiscent in some ways of the National Palace Museum in Taiwan, although oriented more towards history than to art. Unfortunately, this great collection is not well known outside of Taiyuan, which is sad.

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