The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Naval Museum

Address: No 8, Laiyang Road, Shinan district, Qingdao, Shandong province
Opening hours: 9 am-5 pm (last entry at 4 pm)
Closed Mondays (except for national holidays)
General admission: Free (book free ticket online)
Tel: (+86-532) 82876888

Officially opened to the public on Oct 1, 1989, the PLA Naval Museum is the only military museum to chronicle the history of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).

The museum in Qingdao is surrounded by Lu Xun Park to the east, Small Qingdao Park in the west and Qingdao Signal Hill Park in the north, while the Yellow Sea stretches out to the south. In July 2021, after extensive renovation and expansion works, the museum reopened to the public with a brand new look.

The museum collects, preserves, interprets and showcases historic naval artifacts, related historical records and artifacts from the naval arsenal to inform, inspire and educate naval personnel and the general public.

At the museum, there is a main indoor exhibition hall, an offshore ship exhibition area and an on-land equipment exhibition area. The main exhibition hall, with an area of over 7,000 square meters, holds a permanent exhibition on PLAN history in four distinct areas. More than 10,000 artifacts chart the trajectory of PLAN from its foundation in chronological order.

The offshore ship exhibition area, which covers an area of over 40,000 square meters with 3 docks and 6 berths, contains warships of particular significance in the history of PLAN, including destroyers, frigates and submarines.

The on-land equipment exhibition area spans an area of more than 13,000 square meters. The collection mainly comprises small decommissioned ships and retired equipment that was used by China’s naval aviators, marine corps and coastal defense force.