Nanshan Museum

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Nanshan Museum had been on my radar for a while, but when I tried to get tickets in Covid times, there were never any available. Now that's over it was super easy to reserve a spot on the museum's WeChat mini programme. The museum was easy to access as it was about a ten minute walk in a straight line from the subway station. I scanned my ticket at the entrance and was free to wander the museum. I don't really know too much about this area of Shenzhen apart from it is central and pretty rich. The museum had both permanent and temporary exhibits, so I started with permanent ones. I decided to work through them chronologically so started with 'Ancient Nanshan'. I passed a gorgeous wooden folding screen with gold lacquer work as I entered the hall. Nanshan was important in the development of the South China ancient Yue ethnicity during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. They were known for the use of double shouldered stone axes, stepped adzes and stained hard potteries with geometric designs. The Yue people farmed rice, fished, hunted and manufactured bronze weapons. It was interesting to read about this as I know very little about it. I really need to read up more on older Chinese history, just got to find a book (or books) that pique my interest. I spent a short while looking around the items on display. My favourite pieces were a Kwon-glazed pot with a design of figurines and a pair of green glazed lion pottery sculptures. An interesting fact I learned was that Shenzhen and Hong Kong were governed by Dongguan Prefecture for more than eight hundred years. Oh how times have changed, Hong Kong and Shenzhen are modern day economic powerhouses, where as Dongguan is a major manufacturing hub and has the slightly more dubious reputation as the prostitution capital of China. I also learned that Nanshan established Tuen Mun Town, which was a military organisation, during the Tang Dynasty. I liked the statues of the generals and governors that had protected the area as they looked pretty fierce.

I then moved onto the exhibition about 'Modern Nanshan'. This chronicled the history from after the Opium Wars to more recent times. I really enjoyed this exhibition as this more modern history is more my thing. I really liked the items on display such as uniforms and propaganda items. One of the information boards mentioned how disparity grew between this area and Hong Kong during the 'Great Cultural Revolution' and that entry to Hong Kong that was illegal was a common practice as people were seeking a better life. There some great photos of women doing agricultural work in the past. I don't know how staged they were, but I loved their beaming radiant smiles and the subtle differences in clothing as they belonged to different clans. Shenzhen is very much a migrant city, but not just in more recent times, as people have been migrating here for centuries. I moved onto the last permanent exhibition 'Nanshan History of Reform and Opening'. Nanshan set up the first industrial zone that was open to the world known as the 'Shekou Model', scientific and innovative initiatives transformed Shenzhen and it became known as the 'Chinese Silicon Valley'. I liked the set of three photographs that showed how Shenzhen has developed as a city from 1985 to 2020. The change is just phenomenal, sometimes I wish time travel was a thing so that I could go back and experience how it was then to compare and contrast it to now. I had a quick walk through the rest if the exhibition as technology and science aren't really my interests so I knew reading a lot of the stuff would go over my head.

There were also three special exhibitions and they were all free to enter too. This was a nice surprise as a lot of museums often charge for visiting exhibitions. I started with the one entitled 'Han Ink and Elegance - A Special Exhibition of Painting and Calligraphy from the Ming and Qing Dynasties', which was about traditional Chinese stationery, calligraphy and artwork. I liked that this exhibition really broke it down to basics with sections on brushes, ink, paper and inkstone. It was interesting to read about the different items and their roles before seeing some beautiful artwork and calligraphy. I also liked that they included a section on accessories such as brush holders, wrist rests, and ink dishes, as these items are not only functional but beautiful. There was a gorgeous carved table screen, it was quite small, but the detail on it was fantastic. The second of the temporary exhibitions I visited was 'The Way of the Gods of Wealth - An Exhibition of Chinese Folklore Relics for Praying for Wealth'. This was a pretty timely exhibition as on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year when we went to the temple in Huangshi to pray to the God of Wealth. Throughout the different Chinese dynasties people have prayed to the God of Wealth in different ways. There were lots of different small statues of Cai Shen, I love all the different interpretations of him and no matter the interpretation he looked fierce in every one. I also liked the pictures that were on display and the amount of red. Before living in China, I was pretty on the fence about the colour red, neither loved it nor hated it, but now after seeing it everywhere and all the positive connotations it has in Chinese culture, I am a big fan. The final temporary exhibition was 'Fucha Wanli - The ancient Chinese ceramics Maritime Trade Exhibition'. This was about the Maritime Silk Road which was the sea route for foreign trade and cultural exchanges, which initially began in the Qin and Han Dynasties, and ceramics produced in China were an important commodity traded along the route. During the middle and late Tang Dynasty the ceramics were exported in greater quantities and this ushered in the golden era of Chinese porcelain exports. It was interesting to read that some of the exhibits on display were from shipwrecks. The exhibition wasn't too big, so I had a quick walk around it. I liked some of the plates that were on display. I like that their beauty lies in their simplicity, nothing too fancy or too colourful. I quite enjoyed my look around Nanshan Museum. It is not as good as Shenzhen Museum and there was quite a lot of crossover, which is to be expected. I did enjoy the temporary exhibitions, but I don't think I would rush back here.

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Comments

[RENanDREW]

Favourites
I can see why these were one of your favourites - they are amazing. I love seeing things like this in museums, but I also wonder how they would have looked in situ :)

[Zephyr]

Great Point
I often forget that these artefacts had a life before the museum. If only we could time travel and see them in their past glories.