Hebei Museum is located in downtown Shijiazhuang City, between Zhongshan Road to the north and Fanxi Road to the south, the East Avenue to the east and the West Avenue to the west, where the traffic is convenient. The whole museum consists of two parts, the north part of which is the old museum, or the “Long Live the Mao Zedong Thought” exhibition hall built in 1968 during the Cultural Revolution, a colonnade-style architecture imitating the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Containing 16 exhibition rooms, the old museum has the gross floor area of 20.028 sq m; in 2001, it was proclaimed as the provincial-level key cultural and historic heritage. The south part is the new museum, which began to be built in 2006; it has three stories above ground and one underground; the external appearance is a refined colonnade-style based on that of the old museum. The new museum has the gross floor area of 33.100 sq m divided into 11 exhibition rooms. The general area of the old and new museums is 53.128 sq m, the exhibition area is over 22.000 sq m, and the old and new museums are linked together by the lofty Sunshine Hall. To the north of the old museum is the Culture Square and to the south of the new museum is the new-built South Square. The buildings of the old and new museums are harmoniously integrated in an elegant and comfortable environment, forming the symbolic architectural landscape with strong cultural atmosphere in the capital of Hebei Province.
Hebei Museum is the only provincial-level comprehensive museum in Hebei Province to date; it is the national patriotic education base and national Class-A museum. At present, over 150,000 artifacts are collected in Hebei Museum, among which 334 pieces (sets) are Grade One, including the artifacts unearthed from Mancheng Han Tombs, the porcelains of the four famous ancient kilns in Hebei, the blue-and-white porcelains of the Yuan Dynasty, the stone sculptures, the painting and calligraphy artworks of famous artists and scholars of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the revolutionary relics of the War of Resistance Against Japan, which are unique collections. In addition, over 50.000 books, including many rare ones published in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, are collected in Hebei Museum, which makes it one of the main collectors of the local gazetteers of Hebei Province.
At the time of the completion of the new museum, we trimmed the development sequence of the history of Hebei Province and utilized the unique collections of our museum, presented the basic exhibition system with our special features. The permanent exhibitions have History and Art themes, which are arranged across nine subjects. Through more than 5.000 pieces (sets) of exquisite artifacts and elaborate displaying methods, we show our visitors the history of the development of human beings in over 2 million years on the land of Hebei.
The History theme choses the most splendid sections in the history of Hebei Province and presents them in six subject exhibitions, which are: “Hebei in the Stone Age”; “The Shang Civilization in Hebei”; “A Chant of Generosity and Tragedy: the Story of the Yan and Zhao States”; “The Strong Power of the Warring-States: the Zhongshan State”; “The Climax of the Great Han: the Mancheng Han Tombs” and “The Glimpse of the Recent Century: the Modern Hebei”. The Art series focuses on demonstrating the ancient art achievements of Hebei, for which three subject exhibitions are arranged: “The Murals of the Northern Dynasties”, “The Quyang Stone Sculptures” and “The Famous Kilns and Their Famous Products”.
The northern district displays temporary exhibitions on four topics, including "Hebei History", "Chinese History", "World History" and "Natural History". In 2018, Hebei Museum was awarded as the most innovative museum in China. The hebei museum has the following innovations: 1. Innovative Exhibition Planning Taking the nature of contemporary life and the needs of the public as the driving force and starting point, the temporary exhibition curator gradually explored and formed the four exhibition systems of "World History", "Chinese History", "Hebei History" and "Natural History". In recent years, about 30 temporary exhibitions have been launched every year to meet the spiritual and cultural needs of the public of different ages and levels. 2. An Innovative Social Education Programme Innovation has created 18 major social education programs, which include "Cultural and Educational Platform", "Happy School", "Animal World in the Museum", "Bo Show Theater", "Tsing Kui Drama Club" and "Traditional Culture Benefits All People." These have been developed into gold medal social education programs 3. Innovative Cultural and Creative Products We have developed unique cultural and creative products. At present, we have developed 674 products in six categories, including cultural relic reproduction products, daily necessities and clothing.