Zigong Salt Museum

Zigong Salt Museum
自贡市盐业历史博物馆

Address: 107 Jiefang Road, Ziliujing district, Zigong, Sichuan province
Websites: www.zgshm.cn/English.html (En)
www.zgshm.cn (Cn)
Hours: 08:30-17:00
Closed on Chinese New Year's Eve
Ticket booking: 0813-2202083
General admission: 20 yuan

Joseph Needham, a famous professor of Cambridge University and a world-famous historian of science and technology, listed more than twenty important inventions that had entered Europe from China in his book History of Science and Technology in China. The fifteenth of these was the deep-well drilling technology that is on display and well worth seeing in the Zigong Salt Museum.

The Zigong Salt History Museum is housed in the Xiqin Guildhall, which was built in 1736 during the Qianlong reign (1736-1795) of the Qing dynasty. The building is a Major Historical and Cultural Site of China. Xiqin Guildhall was funded by the Shaanxi salt tradesmen, and used as a meeting place for salt merchants from Shaanxi, the main conduit for Zigong salt. It features elaborate flying eaves and a gilded wooden carved interior centered around a large galleried atrium where plays were once performed. Exhibits in the museum illustrate the entire history of salt mining dating from the Han dynasty.

The Zigong Salt History Museum is a specialized museum of Chinese technological history. Built in 1959, it collects historical books, literature and archives about well-salt development, including 1,322 real objects and tools. Among these items, one significant display is a unique and treasured collection of over 130 different types of ancient Chinese well-salt drilling tools, represented by over 500 individual pieces. Large scale mural paintings in the museum depict the 2,000 year evolution of mine drilling, salt making, and natural gas usage. They exemplify not only the prosperity of Zigong's salt making industry, but also the wisdom and engineering skills of the indigenous Chinese people.