The museum lies within the National Olympic Park, Minzuyuan Road, Chaoyang District. Also known as Chinese Ethnic Park, it is a large anthropological museum that also serves as a spot of cultural interest. It is capable of restoration, collection, and exhibition of ethnic cultural relics and research into the culture, relics, society and life of the 56 ethnic groups in China. The construction started in 1992. The north part was completed and opened in 1994, and the south part, in Sept. 2001.
The museum covers an area of 28.2 hectares. It keeps over 100,000 items of ethnic cultural relics and articles for use. The main exhibition hall, with a 6,000-square-meter exhibition area, displays the history and culture of all the ethnic groups in China, focusing on common people’s life. In the park you may see life-size ethnic architectures and landscape. The park holds ethnic characteristics exhibitions, ethnic-culture-related activities, sponsors international cultural exchange, and serves for education of patriotism and inter-ethic solidarity.
The museum is well known for its ethnic activities, for celebrations of festivals are held practically every day in the park. It holds such ethnic-culture-related activities as traditional festival celebrations, ethnic songs and dances, ethnic handicraft, ethnic food, and ethnic competitive sports. It also holds large-scale international cultural activities, international meetings, contests on ethnic knowledge, patriotic education, and leisure activities on the Dragon Boat Festival and the Moon Festival. The interesting folk customs and the variety of activities lead visitors and tourists into the ‘big family of ethnic groups’, and help them learn about the colorful ethnic culture and customs of China.
The main exhibition hall: With a 6,000-square-meter exhibition area, it offers an exhibition named ‘Common People–Our History and Our Root’. It is divided into 14 subjects–ancestral hall, posthouse, boudoir, study room, children’s room, drum room, rite room, weights and measures, wing rooms, textile room, farmer’s house, chamber bed, basin rack, and clothes rack. The over 3,000 exhibits reflect the culture of the common Chinese people.
The Salar nationality museum and landscape area: All the main buildings– Salar courtyard with a minaret and a bamboo fence pavilion, which date back to the Qing Dynasty–were moved here from Shangbaizhuang Village and Dazhuang Village in Xunhua Salar Autonomous County, Qinghai Province. The museum displays pictures of architectures in Salar villages and daily life of the Salar people.
The She nationality museum and landscape area: The main buildings–She dwelling houses, which date back to Emperor Kangxi’s reign in the Qing Dynasty–were moved here from Mashan Village, Xitan Town, Fu’an, Fujian Province. In the houses are shown pictures of She customs and exhibits reflecting daily life in such houses. The 45-meter-long bridge that also dates back to Emperor Kangxi’s reign was moved here from Mu’erkou Village, Yingchuan Town, Jingning She Autonomous County, Zhejiang Province.
The Gaoshan nationality museum and landscape area: This is the only museum of a Taiwan ethnic minority and a window to it in mainland China. Here you may see buildings and cultural landscape of 9 tribes of Taiwan natives. The museum is a symbol of the unity between all the 56 nationalities of China and a good place for exchanges of ethnic culture between both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
The Tibetan museum and landscape area: The main buildings and attractions–reproductions of Pilgrim Road, Tancheng, Dazhao Lamasery, Kangba dwelling houses, Mani Pile, scripture wheel, and Bajiao Street–reflect distinctive features of Tibetan culture. A series of Tibetan culture exhibitions are held in Bajiao Street and other buildings.
Address: No. 1 Minzuyuan Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing
(Source: english.visitbeijing.com.cn)