Tianshui Museum

Tianshui Museum
天水市博物馆

Address: FuXi Shrine, Fuxi Road, Qinzhou district, Tianshui, Gansu province
Website: http://www.tssbwg.com.cn (Cn)
Hours: 8:40-17:30(Last ticket: 17:00)
Closed Mondays (except for national holidays)
General admission: Free (Passport required for entry)

According to Chinese mythology, Fu Xi, formally Tai Hao, was the first emperor of China. His miraculous birth, as a divine being portrayed with a serpent’s body, is said to have occurred in the 29th century BC in Tianshui. Fu Xi is credited with creating humanity and inventing hunting, fishing, and cooking, as well as Chinese characters. He also instituted marriage and offered the first open-air sacrifice to heaven. The Tianshui Museum, founded in 1979 and installed in the local Fu Xi Shrine, elaborates on the culture of Fu Xi. The Museum covers an area of 30,060 square meters and has nine exhibition halls as well as a high definition digital cinema. Its collection includes stone tools, bone tools, pottery, ironware, jade, ceramics, carved bricks, seals, scholarly accoutrements, traditional paintings and calligraphy works, and coins. Painted pottery from the Neolithic Era, bronzeware from the Shang and Zhou dynasties (c.16th century - 256 BC), and ceramics dating from the 10th century to the early 20th century are its primary attractions.