The National Water Museum of China

The National Water Museum of China
中国水利博物馆

Address: No 1, Shuibo Avenue, Xiaoshan district, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province
Opening hours:
9 am-4:30 pm (last entry 4 pm)
Closed Mondays (except for national holidays)
General admission:
Entering and climbing the museum’s pagoda: 20 yuan ($2.78) for adults, 10 yuan for children, and 15 yuan for groups with 10 members or more (free for children under 1.2 meters, and discounts for full-time undergraduate students and below, those with disabilities, teachers teaching for over 30 years, and seniors aged 70 or above, valid identification required)
Tel: (+86-571) 82863601 (9 am-4:30 pm, from Tuesday to Sunday)

Having first opened to the public in March 2010 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, the National Water Museum of China is a national-level industry museum directly affiliated with the Ministry of Water Resources of China.

The museum has been working to share the history and cultural assets of, inherit Chinese ancestors’ wisdom in, promote the cause of, and help people learn more about water resource management. It is 15 kilometers from the Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport and 3.8 kilometers from the nearest expressway. So getting here is relatively easy by driving or mass transit.

What makes the museum special is the design of "building a museum inside a pagoda", blending the style of a traditional Chinese pagoda with modern building materials and technologies. As the site of the pagoda is located right upon a lake, it looks like a "floating crystal pagoda" from afar.

The artifacts and artworks in the museum are displayed both inside its 36, 500-square-meter exhibit space and outside on the ground around the pagoda and lake. These collections enable the museum to create different thematic exhibitions highlighting the different aspects of water in Chinese culture.

For example, the "Dragon Sending out the Rain" on the top floor of the pagoda accommodates a huge sculpture of a seal decorated with a coiled dragon spouting water-shaped knob and inscribed with the full text of Records of the Grand Historian—Book of Rivers and Canals on its four sides. It not only tells the history of water conservancy in ancient China, but also embodies the connotations of water in traditional Chinese culture.

The outdoor exhibition of the museum features water control heritage and other relics, reflecting how water conservancy and flood relief are connected to the life of Chinese people and Chinese culture. It is the first thematic exhibition that focuses on the culture of water in China.

In addition, the museum is excavating and researching into the heritage of water conservancy nationwide and protecting them through digital technologies, so as to learn from past experience in water management. It has also made progress in promoting the culture of water by providing education campaigns for kids, holding cultural events, and launching science popularization programs in recent years.