The Lu Xun Museum in Beijing

Image from the official website of the Lu Xun Museum in Beijing. [Photo/luxunmuseum.com.cn]

Located near Fuchengmen in the northwestern part of Beijing, the Lu Xun Museum in Beijing is a memorial of historical celebrities.

Lu Xun (1881-1936) was regarded as the founder of modern Chinese writing and was a revered scholar and teacher. He played an important role in the anti-imperialist May the Fourth Movement in 1919, and his greatest legacy was leading the revolution of simplified Chinese script.

History

The museum, built in October 1956, takes up an area of 12,000 square meters, 1,000 of which are for the basic display of Lu Xun's life.

It is split into two sections -- Lu Xun's former residence where he lived from 1924-1926, and a large exhibition hall. Lu Xun's former residence is a cultural site under the protection of the Beijing government, and is an important part of the museum. It was officially opened to the public in 1949.

The residence was first designed by Lu Xun himself in the spring of 1924 and opened to the public on Oct 19, 1949. A display room was built next to the residence by the Ministry of Culture in 1954 and opened in 1956.

Collection

The museum holds a collection of 21,842 cultural relics, of which 1,290 are listed as first class. The main exhibits include manuscripts, letters, journals, photographs and other personal objects. The most important exhibits on display are the scroll Self-Mockery Poem that Lu Xun sent to Liu Yazi as a gift and Liu Yazi later sent to Mao Zedong, more than 2,200 pages of Lu Xun's notes to ancient books, Lu Xun's collection of over 140,000 books, and some stone-engraving paintings of the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD). There are also more than 6,000 rubbings of the past dynasties collected by Lu Xun.

The exhibition hall features the basic display of Lu Xun's life, which displays his contributions to the undertaking of modern revolutionary literature, the new woodcut movement and the contemporary thoughts and cultures of his lifetime.

Address: No 19, Gongmenkou Ertiao, Fuchengmen Street, Xicheng District, Beijing

Website: http://www.luxunmuseum.com.cn/ (Chinese)

Open hours: 9:00－16:00 (No admission after 15:30)

            Closed on Mondays (except on national holidays)

Ticket: Adults: 5 yuan

        Students: 3 yuan

Online booking: http://www.luxunmuseum.com.cn/plus/yuyue2.php