Guangdong Museum

Guangdong Museum is a first-rate provincial museum in China, containing 166,000 items, including calligraphy, paintings, ceramics, woodcarvings, and gemstones. Covering an area of 721,182 square feet (67,000 square meters) in downtown Guangzhou, it looks like a jewel box from the outside with five floors above ground and one floor below. There are five permanent exhibitions in the museum: Guangdong History and Culture, Chaozhou Gilded Woodcarvings, Natural Resources, Ceramics, and Duan Inkstones.

Guangdong History and Culture
With an area of 43,056 square feet (4,000 square meters), this exhibition displays over 1,500 items, including relics, pictures, oil paintings, sculptures, and models. Using multi-media and reproductions, it presents the history of the province. The Liede Dragon Boat, Ivory Carving Tiered Food Carrier, and many other precious items can be seen in this exhibition.

It is divided into four sections according to a time line. The first section demonstrates the origin of the local people, the ethnic fusion process, and covers three main ethnic groups: Cantonese, Hakka, and Chaoshan People. Many rare items are displayed, such as a Maba Man Skull (the ancestors of local people), a Nanyue King Oil Painting, and Chaozhou Clay Sculptures. Tourists will be transported in the second section to the Maritime Silk Road to experience the wonderful course of this region's opening up to foreign countries with various exhibits, such as ceramics, Cantonese faience, Cantonese sculptures, and trade paintings. The third section reviews the contributions local people made in many important historical events in China's Modern History (1840 – 1949), while the fourth part presents their bravery during the Sino-Japanese War (1937 – 1945) through a large number of black-and-white photos.

Chaozhou Gilded Woodcarvings
Chaozhou Gilded Woodcarving is a famous traditional craft school in China, popular in the east of Guangdong Province. It is renowned for its complicated patterns, exquisite and delicate designs, and glorious gold lacquering technique. More than 200 items are displayed here, such as shrines, censers, lunch boxes, and wooden screens. Traditional halls, bedrooms, and studies are reproduced to immerse visitors in the cultural atmosphere of Chaozhou.