Jianchuan Museum Cluster Explained
The Jianchuan Museum Cluster is located in Anren Town, Dayi County, Sichuan province, China, about one hour's drive from the provincial capital Chengdu. It consists of 26 museums which showcase China's largest private collection of artifacts amassed during the last 60–70 years.
Founding
The museum was founded by, and named after, Fan Jianchuan (1957), a local real estate billionaire native to Yibin, and a collector of Cultural Revolution Era memorabilia.[1] Before starting his investments in real estate, Fan was the deputy major of Yibin. In 2003 he started investing his real estate earnings in the museums. The first five museums of the cluster opened in 2005. As of 2015 Fan spent the RMB 2 billion on the museums. The cluster started operating break even in 2010.[2]
Exhibits
The complex features more than two million historical and cultural artefacts, mainly from the founder's personal collection, and has been hailed by the Los Angeles Times as an example of "the increasing openness about the way recent history is viewed in China."[3] With a total area of 500acres, the museum cluster is made up of 26 museums, as of 2015. It has a repository of over 8 million artifacts, with 121 of them classified as Class-One National Treasures. It is the largest museum cluster in China. Several hundred artifacts have also been donated to other museums.
The museums are organized by four major themes: Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), the ‘Red era’, the Wenchuan earthquake, and Chinese folk culture.[4]
Museums
Red Era theme
- Red Era Ceramics Exhibition Hall
- Red Era Living Necessities Hall
- Zhiqing Life Hall
- AVIC Museum
- Li Zhensheng Photography Museum
- Red Chronicles Exhibition Hall
- Red Era Mirrors Museum
Second Sino-Japanese War theme
- Unyielding Prisoners of War Museum, about the Sino-Japanese conflict between 1931 and 1945[5]
- Hall of the Frontal Battlefield, dedicated to the Kuomintang efforts in fighting the Japanese
- Museum of the Communist Resistance Army
- Hall of the Heroes of the Flying Tigers
- Memorial Hall of Long March of the Red Army in Sichuan
- Hall of the Sichuan Army in the War of Resistance
- Chinese Warriors Group Culture Plaza
- China Anti-Japanese Veterans Handprints Plaza
- Foreign Volunteer Supporters of China Plaza
- Evidence of the Japanese War Crime, opened on the 70th anniversary of China's victory against the Japanese
Wenchuan Earthquake theme
- Memorial Hall of the 5.12 Earthquake Rescue
- Wenchuan Earthquake Museum, exhibiting object left damaged by the earthquake
- Earthquake Art Gallery
- Hu Huishan Memorial Hall, in memory of Hu Huishan, a female student of Dujiangyan High School,who died of the earthquake[6]
Chinese folk culture theme
- The Memorial Hall of Yangtze River Rafting
- Old Mansion Furniture Exhibition Hall
- Three-inch Golden Lotus Cultural Relics Gallery
- National Defense Weapons Museum
- Liu Wenhui Former Residence Exhibition Hall
Other
See also
Notes and References
- Book: Gaskell. Ivan. The Oxford Handbook of History and Material Culture. Carter. Sarah Anne. 2020-03-12. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-934176-4. en.
- Web site: 2015-07-27. Meet the Chinese property tycoon whose museum business brings him joy, fame – and hopefully 'immortality'. 2021-05-11. South China Morning Post. en.
- Web site: Makinen. Julie. 2012-11-07. China museum builder lets history speak. 2021-05-11. Los Angeles Times. en-US.
- Web site: Museum Exhibits_Sichuan Museum Of Jianchuan. 2021-05-11. www.jc-museum.cn.
- News: Jianchuan Museum Cluster. 2021-05-11. Wall Street Journal. 30 July 2012 . en-US.
- Web site: Hu Huishan Memorial Jiakun Architects. 2021-05-11. World-Architects. en.
