Current Exhibitions
Changsha Mawangdui Han Dynasty Tombs Exhibition
3rd Floor
Permanent Exhibition
Free admission
The excavation of the three Western Han Dynasty Tombs at Mawangdui, Changsha, which took place between 1972 and 1974, was one of the world’s most important archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. The fully preserved tomb structure as well as a wealth of funerary items serve to fully embody everyday life and funeral concepts during the Han Dynasty. Over 700 exquisite lacquer items with intricate workmanship reflect the brilliant accomplishments of Han Dynasty lacquerware, and over 500 exquisite textile garments fully attest to the “Kingdom of Silk” (Seres) in the Western historical records. More than 50 bamboo slips and silk manuscripts serve as “encyclopedias”, demonstrating the knowledge and wisdom of the ancient sages. Strange and bizarre coffin paintings embody the fantasies of people in the Han Dynasty ascending to the heavens and longing for external life, while the dreamlike face of a deceased woman is a testament to extraordinary preservation techniques. The Mawangdui Han Dynasty Tombs are renowned as the exemplar of the history and civilization in the early Han Dynasty, providing a window to understand society in China over 2,100 years ago.
Hunanese
2nd Floor
Permanent Exhibition
Free admission
Hunan, located in the central Chinese hinterland, is bounded in the north by the waters of Lake Dongting, embraced on three sides by majestic mountains, and crisscrossed by the four rivers, Xiang, Zi, Yuan, and Li. The province, known as the “Land of the Hibiscus” since Tang Dynasty, is blessed with rich resources and a temperate climate. The region was settled almost 500,000 years ago by people who have welcomed migrants over various periods with open hearts. The descendants of these original settlers and generations of migrants make up the “Hunanese” we know today.
From the earliest domestication of wild rice to the breeding of rice cultivars and finally to the growing of the hybrid rice of today, Hunan has always been grounded in rice farming. Over the generations, the diligent and wise people of Hunan, with their practical minds, have engaged in mutual help and built a comfortable pastoral home for themselves. In the process, they created a land abundant with food, which is known as “the Granary of China”. From eating rice with fish to enjoying spicy and hot flavors, the people of Hunan practice a way of life that has been passed down through the generations and seek a way of life that is above and beyond the mere utilitarian. Shang and Zhou (1600--256 B.C.) ritual music instruments made out of bronze, lacquered-wood vessels from the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.--220 A.D.), the popular Changsha ceramics in the Tang Dynasty (618--907 A.D.), and the well-educated farmstead family of Ming and Qing periods (1368--1912A.D.): these are all reflections of Hunanese customs and beliefs, and the Hunan way of life.
For thousands of years, due to deep immersion in the culture of the Central Plains, patriotic thoughts, strong scholastic heritage, and modern ideological agitations cultivated the generations of great men who have emerged from Hunan. The people of Hunan are bold, fiercely patriotic, and deeply loyal.
Contemporary Exhibition-Special Exhibition
Squares and Circles—Bronze Mirrors in the Collection of the Hunan Museum
Themed Exhibition Hall, 3rd Floor
Bronze mirrors are unique, outstanding, and fabulous among ancient Chinese bronzes. Modern master of Chinese culture Luo Zhenyu ever wrote in his book The catalogue of Ancient Chinese Mirrors, “Ancient Chinese bronze mirrors have exquisite decorations, magnificent and rarely-seen inscriptions, and elegant connotations. It is hard to find these three merits in any other artifact. ” Bronze mirrors are more than that. After the end of the Bronze Age, ding, gui, zun, and other bronze ritual objects gradually disappeared in temples, ancestral shrines, and other special places while bronze mirrors, bronze coins and other small items with expanded production scales were gradually used by ordinary people. Bronze mirrors developed over time. After the prosperity in the Han Dynasty and the first decline in the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties, bronze mirrors reached its peak of development in the Tang Dynasty, followed by the steady development of the Song,Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and gradually declined in the mid-and-late Qing Dynasty after the emergence of glass mirrors in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. For thousands of years, bronze mirrors have evolved with the times in terms of casting techniques, shapes, ornaments, and inscriptions, and have been upgraded in various ways, which can be considered the only remaining living example with continuous growth among different kinds of bronzes.
Bronze mirrors, as an indispensable utensil in the daily life of the Chinese people, carried many symbolic meanings such as religious beliefs and good wishes, and were frequently shown in poems and songs, legends and other literary works through the ages, such as the widely circulated stories,”a broken mirror made whole again” and “regarding other person as a mirror”, making bronze mirrors irreplaceable literary imagery, and forming a "mirror culture".
The exhibition includes more than 200 bronze mirrors in the Hunan Museum's collection, and each one is exquisite in form and style in its respective era, basically covering the main kinds of mirrors ranging in date from the Warring States Period to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The exhibition aims to reflect the development of bronze mirrors, reveal the vigorous vitality of bronze mirrors that have lasted for thousands of years, and explore their cultural connotation through the display of the casting techniques, shapes, ornaments, and inscriptions of bronze mirrors in different periods.
Look at the mirror, you will know yourself; learn about the past, you will know the present.For modern people, bronze mirrors are just like square or round windows from which we can glimpse ancient Chinese people’s life, technology, art and aesthetic. Through the world of squares and circles, we can observe the lives of ancient Chinese people and know the vicissitudes of history, and understand transience and eternity in the culture core, which will illuminate us in the present day.
Exhibition of Guqin Culture in Hunan
3rd Floor
Guqin originally known as qin, also called a seven-stringed plucked qin and yaoqin, is one of the most ancient instruments of Chinese nation. In ancient times, it was highly praised by literati as the first of the four arts of qin, chess, calligraphy and painting. In November 2003, UNESCO declared it the "representative of oral and intangible heritage of humanity".
Hunan is blessed with a long history of guqin. Shun, a chief of ancient Chinese tribal alliance, played the guqin, intoning “Nanfeng” to rein the country. Guo Mian, a musician in the Southern Song Dynasty, once moved to Hengshan Mountain and composed a song named “Mist and Clouds over Xiao-Xiang River”, which was admired by people for thousands of years. Sages as Zhu Xi, Zhang Shi, Wang Fuzhi and Zuo Zongtang spread feudal code of ethics and purified their souls by qin, adding profound cultural connotation to guqin culture in Hunna. Modern musicians, such as Peng Zhiqing, Yang Zongji, Gu Meigeng, Zha Fuxi and Li Jing were all engaged in guqin study in Hunan, which had a great impact in this field.
Hunan Museum has a collection of fifty-three pieces of guqin, which were unearthed or manufactured during the time from Western Han Dynasty to Republic of China, spanning more than two thousand years. These rich heritages are undoubtedly an important part of Chinese guqin culture.
“Those who play the guqin by the Xiangjiang River have good moral standards as ancient sages.” In the moonlight of Lushan Mountain and the ripple of Xiangjiang river, guqin melody is in harmony with the heaven and the earth, echoing with the universe. It is hoped that the exhibition can provide an opportunity for people from all walks of life to understand the culture of Xiaoxiang guqin and appreciate its unique charm.
Special Exhibitions
