Baoji Bronze Ware Museum

Baoji Bronze Ware Museum
宝鸡青铜器博物馆

Address: South Gongyuan Road, Binhe Avenue, Weibin district, Baoji, Shaanxi province
Website: bjqtm.com(Cn)
Hours: 9:00-17:00 (Last ticket: 16:30)
Closed Mondays (except for national holidays)
Genearl admission: Free(Passport required for entry, a max of 3,000 admitted daily)

People around the world may know China by its two-character name "Zhongguo", but may not understand where this name came from. The two characters first appeared on a bronze vessel called Hezun, which was unearthed in Northwest China's Shaanxi province in 1963 and is now housed in the Baoji Bronze Museum.

The Hezun vessel, which dates back more than 3,000 years, has a 122-word inscription on its base, detailing how the capital city of Luoyang was built under the rule of King Chengwang of the Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century-771 BC). In the inscription, there are four characters reading "zhaizizhongguo", which means "live in the central area of the world". This shows that Chinese people were addressing the place they inhabited as "zhongguo" more than 3,000 years ago.

Baoji Bronze Ware Museum is currently the only bronze-themed museum in China for the collection, preservation, exhibition, and research of ancient Chinese bronze ware. The museum occupies a land area of 34,800 square meters, with its main complex covering 10,000 square meters. It has collected over 12,761 cultural relics since opening. More than 400 groups of bronze, jade, pottery, and gold artifacts are on display, most of which are rare treasures.

The exhibition halls showcase the richness of Baoji bronze ware by displaying a large number of unearthed bronze wares, a core component of the culture of the Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century - 256 BC) and the source of prosperity of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC). The museum also provides information about bronze ware. Special exhibitions are available to teach people more about Baoji, the land of bronze ware.