10 Weird and Quirky Beijing Museums You Have to Visit
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Beijing has a full list of quirky museums that are dedicated to the oddly specific areas ranging from vintage cars to the notorious baijiu. Below is our list of 10 of the best niche museums in Beijing, for when you've exhausted the usual options.
The museum is
tucked into the former Yokohama Specie Bank on a corner of Dongjiaomin
Xiang, an area packed with former embassies. The museum offers a history
of jurisprudence in China from imperial times to the present day. There
are notable sections featuring Chinese fallen officials, as well as
famous legal cases from both in and outside of China.
Free (ID or passports required)
Tue-Sun 9am-4pm. 4 Zhengyi Lu, Dongcheng District
东城区正义路4号
(010) 6755 7825
As the weather
heats up, what is better than a museum that helps you know everything
about watermelons? Located near a group of Beijing's largest watermelon
plantations, this juicy museum (which is even shaped like a watermelon)
features a wide range of exhibits including paintings, statues, and
videos, and will teach you more than you ever dreamed of knowing about
these luscious summer plants.
RMB 20
Tue-Sun 10am-4.30pm
Panggezhuang Town, Daxing District
大兴区庞各庄镇政府院内
(010) 8928 1181
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Xuannan, or "south
of Xuanwumen," refers to the area southwest of the Forbidden City,
including historical blocks such as Tianqiao, Niujie, Dashila, and
Liulichang, an area fostering a unique cultural atmosphere that still
thrives to this day, making Xuannan culture famous throughout China. The
museum houses eight exhibition halls, each featuring on a specific
aspect of Xuannan culture, including those performing art forms like
crosstalk, acrobatics, and temple fairs. Read more about via the QR code above.
Free (ID card or passport required)
Tue-Sun 9am-4.30pm
9 Changchun Jie, Xicheng District
西城区长椿街9号
Dongsi Hutong
Museum is located in an old, renovated siheyuan, and consists of five
exhibition areas and exhibits centuries-long history and culture
flourished at Dongsi area through art installations, interactive
presentations, and old everyday items, all of which give visitors a
vivid impression of a side of Beijing life that is rapidly disappearing.
Free
Tue-Sat 10am-5pm
77 Dongsisitiao Hutong, Dongcheng District
东城区东四四条77条
(010) 6402 7581
Beijing's Maotai
museum is hosted in a traditional palace building close to the Forbidden
City. It is home to five exhibition sections devoted to explaining the
process by which China's most famous brand of baijiu is made, its nearly
two-century development, and the underlying culture of baijiu. The
collections include rare bottles produced between 1967 to 1982, a period
in which China witnessed great domestic turbulence, which are now
valued at up to RMB 350,000 each.
RMB 20
Tue-Sun 10am-5pm
7 Changpuheyan, Dongcheng District
东城区菖蒲河沿7号
A similar museum
featuring another venerable and time-honored baijiu brand is the Red
Star Erguotou Museum. Located in one of the businesses' old factories,
here you'll find scenes dedicated to one of the country's most famous
erguotou producers, one known for its "stronger" flavor and
bang-for-your-buck strength when compared to baijiu.
RMB 20
Daily 9am-4pm
1 Hongxing Lu, Huairou District
怀柔区红星路1号红星酒厂内
(010) 5120 2902
Moving away from
Chinese spirits to Western drinks now, cola lovers will get a real kick
out of the Coca-Cola Museum. Coca-Cola was the first foreign brand
welcomed back to the PRC in 1978, (even beating the US to the punch,
entering China two days before the announcement of Sino-American
normalization) and has remained firm ever since. This museum not only
teaches you everything you could possibly want to know about this
popular soft drink brand but also provides you with refills as you go.
Free
Mon-Fri 10-11am, 2-3pm
9 Rongjingdongjie, Yizhuang, Daxing District
大兴区荣京东街9号
(010) 6781 3399
This vintage car
museum is actually a private museum with a limited but very impressive
collection of rides, including from old Red Star series, to
internationally distinguished vehicle brands such as Rolls-Royce and
Mercedes-Benz. While you don't see many of these beauties rolling around
the streets these days, we think that Beijing's nouveau-riche, with
their Peppa Pig-stickered, matte-pink Lamborghini's could learn a thing
or two about style by cruising through this museum.
RMB 50, RMB
25 (children)
Daily 8.30am-5.30pm (April-October), 9am-4.30pm (November-March)
19 Fengxiangyiyuan, Yangsong Town, Huairou District
怀柔区杨宋镇凤翔一园19号
(010) 6167 7039
This fascinating
museum is home to the cemetery of Tian Yi, an influential eunuch who
lived during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The museum is divided into
three main sections which explain the history of the practice of
castrating males to create the eunuch class, the reasons this practice
flourished and was eventually outlawed, and a collection of delicate
statues and stone carvings.
RMB 8
Tue-Sun 9am-4.30pm
80 Moshikou Avenue, Shijingshan District
石景山区模式口大街80号
(010) 8872 4148
You know all about
the Bell Tower, but have you been to the Dazhong Temple Ancient Bell
Museum? While the temple is one of the city's most famous, the museum is
also home to over 400 types of old bells, including those that were used as
instruments.
RMB 20, free (children under 1.4m)
Tue-Sun 9am-430pm
31 A, North Third Ring Road, Haidian District
海淀区北三环西路甲31号
(010) 8213 2630
If you're feeling
frustrated by the fact that you can't drink the tap water here in
Beijing, perhaps a visit to this museum would do you some good. This
museum, located near Dongzhimen, taps into (har har) the city's history
of indoor plumbing and may help you understand a little better the many
challenges that plumbers face in getting clean water into the homes of
more than 20 million Beijingers.
RMB 5
Wed-Sun 9am-4pm
Courtyard 6, Qingshuiyuan, Dongzhimen Waidajie, Dongcheng District
东城区东直门外香河园街3号
Located on the
west side of the Botanical Garden in the Fragrant Hills, this quaint
little museum is devoted to all things apian: sample different varieties
of honey, see bee-keeping accouterments and spend your afternoon
engrossed in apicultural studies.
Free
Daily 8.30am-4.30pm
Fragrant Hills Botanical Garden, Haidian District
海淀区香山卧佛寺西侧
(010) 8259 0094
READ: Challenge Your Taste Buds With Beijing's Top 10 Most Unusual Foods
Photos: Dianping, Wikipedia
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