China Travel Guide
Attraction · Wuhan Hubei Provincial Museum

Hubei Provincial Museum

Home of the 2,400-year-old bells of Marquis Yi of Zeng.

Visitor info

Opening hours
09:00-17:00, closed Mon
Ticket
free (reserve)
Suggested visit
2-3 hours

Price is indicative — final quote on inquiry.

Why it's worth it

The museum of two impossible artefacts: the 433 BC chime bells of Marquis Yi — 65 bronze bells that still play concerts — and the Sword of Goujian, 2,500 years old and still sharp, excavated from a soaked tomb with its blade untarnished.

Don't miss

  • The bianzhong chime bells at their daily mini-concert (check times at the desk)
  • The Sword of Goujian — a short blade with turquoise inlay, alone in its case, worth the detour itself
  • The painted lacquered deer and tiger-drums of Chu culture, all curves and attitude

Getting there

Buses 402, 411 and 709 stop at the museum gate; Metro Line 4 to Dongting plus a 15-minute walk also works.

Tips

  • Free but reserve ahead with passport; the bell concerts need a same-day ticket at the door
  • 2-3 hours minimum; the Chu gallery and the bells are the two anchors
  • Closed Mondays; morning entry beats the school groups

Photos

Hubei Provincial Museum — photo 2Hubei Provincial Museum — photo 3Hubei Provincial Museum — photo 4

More in Wuhan

  • Hubu Alley

    Breakfast alley: hot dry noodles, doupi and fried doughsticks.

  • Yellow Crane Tower

    The most-quoted tower in Chinese poetry, overlooking the Yangtze.

  • East Lake

    Six times the size of West Lake; greenways, cherry trees and lakeside cycling.

  • Yellow Crane Tower Park

    "The First Tower of the Rivers and Mountains under Heaven" (a military watchtower built by Sun Quan in 223, the second year of Huangwu of Eastern Wu in the Three Kingdoms period; repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt—burned down in 1884, rebuilt on Snake Hill in 1985), main tower 51.4m with five tiers of flying eaves (golden gourd finial), Cui Hao's verse "The man of old has ridden away on a yellow crane"…

  • Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge

    Completed in 1957 as the "First Bridge over the Ten-Thousand-Li Yangtze" (Soviet-assisted design, road-rail dual use); "A flying bridge spans north and south, turning the natural moat into a thoroughfare" (Mao Zedong's ci poem)

  • Qingchuan Pavilion

    "Scenic wonder of the Three Chu regions" (facing Yellow Crane Tower across the river, from Cui Hao's line "The sunlit river shows Hanyang's trees in clear view"); Yu-Ji Palace (commemorating Yu the Great's flood control) + Tiemen Pass (Three Kingdoms relic)