Entrance Fee: Free Hubei Provincial Museum was founded in 1953. It is located by the East Lake in Wuchang District. Covering an area of 6.4 hectares (15.8 acres), the museum exhibits cultural and historical relics excavated in and around Hubei Province' reflecting the rich and centuries-old Culture of Chu Kingdom during the Warring States Period (476 - 221 BC).
With an exhibition area of 2,400 square meters (about 0.6 acre), the museum displays nearly 200,000 items in four themed halls with each featured a different category. The first hall focuses on the relics excavated from the tomb of King Yi; the second hall, relics of the ancient musical instruments bearing distinct flavor of Hubei Province; the third, the craftworks in Palaces of the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911) and finally, the fourth hall is focused on the history of Hubei Province since 1840.
There are 400 items that have been assessed as key cultural and historic relics, most of which were from the Warring States Peroid, such as the bronze blade that the King of the Yue Kingdom (Gou Jian) used; a complete set of chime bells excavated in the tomb of the King Yi of the Zeng State and many exquisite bronze vessels and accouterments. There were others from the Shang Dynasty (17th - 11th century BC), Southern and Northern Dynasties (420 - 581)and Tang Dynasty (618 - 907).
Chime Bell Hall opened to the public in 1999 displaying ancient musical instruments. Almost all kinds of ancient musical instruments are displayed in the hall, which also contains performance halls. The Chime Bell displayed was unearthed in the tomb of King Yi in 1978 and the discovery shocked people both at home and abroad. The bells suggest that as early as 2,400 years ago, Chinese music had already developed to a very high standard. The 65 pieces of bells are hung on the bronze and wooden fame in three tiers according to their size, the bigger the bell, the lower it hangs. The chime bells can still produce exact musical scales and melodious tones of a good sound quality. Replicas of the serials of bells are performed to show the brilliance of this ancient civilization. A serial of chime stones containing 32 pieces accompanied the excavation of the bells were carved musical texts. This record was 1,800 years earlier than that of the western world.
Hubei Provincial Museum has no lack of rarities with pieces of great value including pottery, jade ware, lacquer ware and paintings. For some one who wants to know more about the ancient civilization of the southern China, Hubei Provincial Museum is well worth a visit.
More Tourist Attractions in Wuhan:
Yellow Crane Tower Guiyuan Buddhist Temple Mo Hill
Heptachord Terrace East Lake Scenic Area Liberation Park
