Lijiashan Bronze Museum in Jiangchuan District, Yuxi

Why is Lijiashan Bronze Museum So Special?

Lijiashan Bronze Museum was completed and opened in the autumn of 1994. It displays such precious cultural relics as the "bull and tiger bronze ware" unearthed in the 1970s and became a sensation in the world. It can also undertake the task of repairing, sorting and duplicating cultural relics. And it is the first professional bronze museum with complete functions. Thethe first professional bronze museum with complete functions shape is archaistic architecture, displaying the precious cultural relics unearthed in the ancient tombs of the royal family of Yunnan. According to research, this batch of cultural relics is the works from the ancient warring states period to the early eastern Han dynasty, has 2,000 years of history.

Lijiashan Bronze Museum is outstanding cultural relic of national treasure level and a miracle in Chinese bronze culture. These bronze wares not only have historical origins with the bronze culture of central plains and northwest China, but also have distinct national characters of frontier areas. It is of great value for us to study the history of nationality, agriculture and animal husbandry, metallurgy, fine arts, folk customs and so on in ancient China, especially in ancient Yunnan.

Where is Lijiashan Bronze Museum – Location

Located in Jiangchuan District, Yuxi City, south of Kunming, Lijiashan Bronze Museum is about 110 kilometers away from Kunming. It takes about two hours driving from Kunming to Jiangchuan.

Features and Main Classifications

The museum has eight exhibition halls, among which the bronze exhibition hall displays 279 of the more than 2,000 cultural relics. They are classified into production, life, military, dance and decoration according to their functions and uses.

1. Social Production

It includes pointed leaf shape copper hoe, trapezoidal copper hoe, curved blade copper hoe, flat blade copper hoe, bar copper hoe, engrave copper hoe, wide blade copper hoe, curved copper axe, serpentine engrave bronze ware and other agricultural implements. In addition to agricultural production, animal husbandry, fishery and hunting also accounted for a large proportion in ancient Yunnan society.

2. Life

It includes male and female figurines of copper, copper house model, copper furnace, copper canister, copper kettle, sacrifice buckle, sacrifice storage containers, copper casket, etc, reflecting people's housing, clothing, hair style, life custom, etc, in the ancient Yunnan society.
 

3. Military

 
It includes copper fork, copper dagger-axe, copper axe, copper hammer, copper, iron sword with golden sheath, bronze peck, copper spear, copper sword, sword sheath, copper bar, etc. We can understand military equipment, weapons and combat characteristics of  the ancient Yunnan. The appearance of iron weapon shows that the productivity level of ancient Yunnan has been greatly improved and the production technology is quite developed.
 
4. Music and Dance

 
It Includes bianzhong, bronze drum, crouching frog bronze drum, drum type storage container. A set of chimes with 6 instruments, they can produce different sounds, dedicated to grand celebrations, and often accompanied by bronze drums. A large number of bronze drum painted dance scenes, solo dance, four-person dance and group dance. The drum was a common percussion instrument. The gilt bronze drum, squatting frog bronze drum, drum shape storage container, etc, which deformed from the bronze drum, had lost the original function and meaning, and been given new connotation.

 
5. Decoration
 
Most of the ornaments were worn by the nobles at that time, including headwear, necklace, earrings, waist decoration, arms and legs decoration. A wide range of materials, such as bronze, gold, agate, malachite, turquoise. Part of them are the decorative accessories on the dress. In the ancient Yunnan war, there were a considerable number of horsemen, so the decoration of the horse was also valued, including horse titles, bristles, buckles, bells and Danglu and other horse accessories.

How to Get there

Tourists have two ways to get to Lijiashan Bronze Museum, long-distance bus and train.

1. By Long-distance Bus

You can take midibus from Kunming East Bus Station to Jiangchuan District. It takes about 2 hours to take the bus. After arriving at Jiangchuan District, you can walk to arrive.

2. By Train

If you want to take train, you should go to Yuxi station first, and then take the bus or taxi to Jiangchuan District. You will spend about 1 hour and 15 minutes on the train. The lowest ticket price  is CNY 16.5. Then you will arrive at Lijiashan Bronze Museum after 1 hour drive.

Best Time to Visit

Museum visit is dominated by indoor events. Therefore, it is possible to visit all the year round.

Accommodation at Lijiashan Bronze Museum

Around the museum, there are also various hotels for you to choose. Here are several recommended hotels.

1. Tianchen Hotel玉溪天辰酒店

Address: No.6, West Xingyun Road, Jiangchuan District, Yuxi玉溪市江川区星云路西段6号

Tel: 0877-8555999

The Distance to Museum: 250 meters(Rhumb line)

2. Dongfang Hotel玉溪江川东方宾馆

Address: No.5, West Xingyun Road, Jiangchuan District, Yuxi玉溪市江川区星云路西段5号

Tel: 0877-8555777

The Distance to Museum: 350 meters(Rhumb line)

3. Yuxi Yuquan Hotel玉溪玉泉酒店

Address: 玉溪市江川区抚仙路33号

Tel: 0877-8021888

The Distance to Museum: 400 meters(Rhumb line)

Useful Travel Tips

1. Do not make noise in the museum;

2. Do not touch the exhibits;

3. Before entering the museum, please look at the signs and learn about all matters needing attention.

4. Do not use a flash when taking photos. There are many precious cultural relics, such as famous historical paintings and ancient colored statues, which are "afraid of the light". Under the irradiation of strong light, they will accelerate their "aging" and even form permanent damage.

5. During the visit, you should pay attention to the instructions next to the exhibits. In this way, you can not only know the basic information of the exhibits, but also make a judgment on their value. You should pay attention to the "No Touch" sign that will be visible in the description of some exhibits.