China Huizhou Culture Museum

China Huizhou Culture Museum
中国徽州文化博物馆

Address: 50 Yingbindadao Boulevard, Tunxi district, Huangshan, Anhui province
Website: hzwhbwg.com (Cn)
Hours: 9:00-11:30,13:30-17:00 (no entry after 16:30)
Closed Mondays (except for national holidays)
E-mail: hzwhbwg@163.com
General admission: Free (passport required for entry)

During the late 18th and early 19th centuries four major opera troupes from Anhui performing in the capital city of Beijing gradually gained considerable popularity. They achieved recognition by incorporating the melodies, vocal styles, and dramatic elements of other local operas and by the mid-19th century had evolved into the Peking Opera.

To understand the culture of Anhui, or more precisely, the culture of the Huizhou state - an old administrative area dating back to the 7th century encompassed by today's Anhui Province -- you should put the China Huizhou Culture Museum at the top of your list. The museum showcases all cultural aspects related to the ancient Huizhou state - the Huizhou-style architecture, the prosperity of the neo-Confucian philosophy, the rise of a Huizhou merchant group, and the intellectual traditions of the region.

In the gallery on the second floor, a length of ink stick, broken into two parts and bearing the Chinese characters "wen fu" (lit. mansion of literature), lies in a cushioned brocade box. It was made more than a thousand years ago in the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127). At the time it was excavated in 1978, it had long been soaked in water but was still intact. Indeed, it is a testimony to Huizhou's time-honored intellectual tradition and superb craftsmanship.