Overseas Chinese Museum

Overseas Chinese Museum
华侨博物院

Address: No 493 Simingnan Lu, Siming district, Xiamen, Fujian province
Opening hours: 9:00-18:00 (no entry after 17:30)
Closed Mondays (except for national holidays)
General admission: Free (passport required for entry)
Tel: +86-592-2085345

The Overseas Chinese Museum was initiated by Mr Tan Kah Kee, a renowned patriotic leader of overseas Chinese in 1956, and was completed and opened to the public in 1959. It is China's first cultural institution built with funds raised by overseas Chinese.

The museum not only serves as the first comprehensive institution in China dedicated to collecting, researching, and displaying the history and achievements of overseas Chinese, but it also functions as a comprehensive museum with exhibits of ancient artifacts and natural specimens.

The museum is designed in Chinese-style double-eaved palace, with pure white granite walls and adorned with an emerald green glazed tiles roof. It has a total area of 12,500 square meters and a building area of 8,951.47 square meters.

The museum collection includes over 6,000 items, including bronzes, ceramics, ancient coins, ancient calligraphy and painting, ancient carving crafts, foreign ceramic glassware, and several precious overseas Chinese cultural relics as well as bird, animal, fish, and mineral specimens. The Catalogue of Ancient Chinese Calligraphy and Painting Among them includes nine first-class national cultural relics as well as 14 calligraphy and painting.

There are also over 3,000 overseas historical relics, physical objects, a wealth of overseas historical materials, as well as over 20,000 photographs, negatives, some genealogies, and audiovisual materials related to overseas Chinese history.

The three main exhibitions, "Overseas Chinese", "Tan Kah Kee Collection Cultural Relics Exhibition", and "Nature Museum", are open to the public for free throughout the year.