Gaoqing Shuqing Antique Museum

The Gaoqing Shuqing Antique Museum in Gaoqing county [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Renowned for stone carvings and rubbings, Gaoqing Shuqing Antique Museum in Gaoqing county in Zibo is the only national folk museum in Shandong province with the theme of Yellow River culture. It not only showcases the charm of history and traditional culture, but also reflects the country's remarkable history regarding the protection and development of the Yellow River Basin.

Established in 2014 and rated as a national museum in 2018, the museum, which covers a construction area of 1,000 square meters, has more than 20,000 collections in four categories: steles, porcelain and jade, cultural and historical materials, as well as other items.

There are more than 500 pieces or sets of epitaphs and stone inscriptions, including more than 100 boxes of epitaphs, spanning a history of over 2,000 years from the Han Dynasty (206BC-AD220) to the Republic of China (1912-1949) period. 

Exhibits at the Gaoqing Shuqing Antique Museum in Gaoqing county [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

It is famed as a dictionary of ancient calligraphy art and historical supplements, among which the epitaphs by government official Zhang Yandeng and engraver Huang Yinghui in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and those in the Northern and Southern dynasties (420-581) and the Tang Dynasty (618-907) are particularly precious.

The museum also boasts more than 1,000 sets of various ceramics, jade, and bronze wares, as well as more than 20,000 pieces of cultural and historical materials. It is home to more than 1,000 pieces of historical documents and objects related to the Yellow River.

Wang Shuqing, a Gaoqing resident and curator of the museum, has been exploring the culture of the Yellow River Basin for decades, making great contributions to the protection, inheritance, and promotion of Yellow River culture.