Founded
in 1951, the Yunnan Provincial Museum is a comprehensive museum. Since
that year
it has collected various kinds
of special items with historical and ethnic features from archaeological
excavations,
purchases
from collectors and
has been
the recipient of
donations
from organizations.
With
more that 190 thousand pieces of art works ranging from bronze wares,
ancient moneys,
porcelains, old Chinese paintings, stone tablet rubbings
to stamps, the museum ranks first in terms of the volume of collected
items. Among these
items,
more than 1000 are categorized as first class cultural relics at state
level.
In the 1950s, the Yunnan Provincial Museum organized a number of
scientific investigations
and
excavations.
Here are several excavations which stand out in importance.
From 1955 to 1960, an extensive tomb excavation was conducted in the
ancient tomb clusters
of
Jingning Shizaishan in Yuxi city, Yunnan. The large amount of bronze
wares from this excavation unveiled the mysterious legend
of the
Ancient Dian Kingdom recorded in ancient Chinese historical literature
back to more 2000 years
ago.
Later on these
were regarded as Shi Zai Shan (Stone Village Mountain) Culture.
In 1972, the tomb excavation in Li Jia Shan in Jiang Chuan County made it
another important archaeological site for Shi Zai Shan Culture. The
excavated items presented more evidence for people to understand the
Ancient Dian Kingdom, enabling people to understand this
long lost
civilization
on
China's frontier.
From 1975 to 1976, there was another
archeological dig
at Wang Jia Ba in Chuxiong. About 1245 items were found which are believed
to
belong to the period of Spring and Autumn
of the
West Han Dynasty in ancient China (around 770 BC to second century AD).
Among these
important unearthed
art works there are five
bronze
drums
that could be dated back to the Spring and Autumn Period. They
are believed to be the earliest of their kind in the world
up to
now.
Next to the Bird and Flower market for local specialty shopping,
and a
place like the Archway of Golden Horse and Green Rooster for sightseeing,
the Yunnan Provincial Museum
is one of the best choices
for a day trip in downtown Kunming City.
The
museum is
very
accessible—besides available taxis,
there are many buses
which
pass by the museum.
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