The Nantong Museum Garden lies on the shores of the Haohe River southeast of Nantong City, Jiangsu Province.
Built in 1905 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) by Zhang Jian, the number one scholar and famous reformist and industrialist in the capitalist class of modern times, it is the earliest museum in Chinese history.
Zhang (1853-1926) was born in Nantong of Jiangsu Province. In 1904, he proposed the construction of a national museum to the Imperial Educational Ministry. Failing to convince the government, the following year Zhang purchased 35 mu (1 mu = 1/15 hectare) of land in his hometown and set up the first Chinese museum independently.
The museum covers an area of 23,300 square meters with the central, southern and northern halls as its main constructions. Other constructions include the Qian Pavilion, Yuanxiu Pavilion, Xiangqin Pavilion, Tengdong Waterside Pavilion and Huazhu Ping’an Hall. Outside the southern hall is the Guxiang Pavilion, which is surrounded by huge stone tablets and statues. The hall has collected over 2,900 cultural relics and specimens and displayed them in the nature, history and art categories.
The museum was rebuilt in 1951 and renamed Nantong Museum; the garden was turned into a People’s Garden. There are over 30,000 cultural relics at the museum — most of which are newly collected. The display area was expanded to total over 600 square meters. The new museum retains the local features of a comprehensive museum with a garden.
(Source: chinaculture.org)
