Yangzhou Museum

扬州博物馆

The “Twin Museums” built alongside the China Woodblock Printing Museum, with the treasured Yuan dynasty lapis-glazed white-dragon meiping vase and artifacts from the Han Guangling royal tomb, offering a one-stop overview of Yangzhou's history.

Yangzhou Museum sits beside Mingyue Lake on Wenchang West Road in the West District. It opened in 2005 jointly with the China Woodblock Printing Museum, and together the two are known as the “Twin Museums,” the core venues for collecting and displaying Yangzhou's local history and culture. The permanent exhibition “Guangling Tide: The Story of Yangzhou” traces the city's history through the Spring and Autumn walled town of Han, Han Guangling, Sui–Tang Yangzhou, the Song greater city, and the Ming–Qing salt merchants. Displays include Han lacquerware, Tang Changsha ware and sancai glazed pottery, Tang polo-playing figurines, and Qing salt-merchant calligraphy and paintings. In the treasure hall, the museum's prized Yuan lapis-glazed white-dragon meiping vase is displayed on its own. Only three such vases survive worldwide, and the Yangzhou example is the largest and most intact, a peak of Jingdezhen imperial kiln craftsmanship with deep blue glaze and a soaring white dragon. The Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics gallery features works by Zheng Banqiao, Jin Nong, and others. The China Woodblock Printing Museum shows the woodblock craft of the Guangling Ancient Book Printing Society, with live demonstrations by carvers and the chance to try rubbing. Admission is free, with ID or advance booking required, and the museum is closed on Mondays. A visit takes about 1.5–2 hours. Getting there: take Tour Bus 1, 2, or 26 to the Twin Museums stop, about 3 km from Slender West Lake. From Yangzhou East Railway Station, it is about 25 minutes by taxi. Notes: flash photography is prohibited in the meiping gallery, woodblock printing experiences run at set times, and Mingyue Lake Park and the Jinghua City shopping district outside the museum are good places to rest and eat.

Yangzhou Museum

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