Nanjing City, Jiangsu, China

11. The Nanjing Museum

Just inside the eastern city walls on Zhongshan Donglu, the Nanjing Museum (Nanjing Bowuguan) houses an array of artifacts from Neolithic times right through the Communist period. The main building was constructed in 1933 in the style of an ancient temple with yellow-glazed tiles, red-lacquered gates and columns. An interesting exhibit is the burial suit made of small rectangles of jade sewn together with silver thread, dating from the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-225 AD) and excavated from a tomb discovered in the city of Xuzhou in northern Jiangsu. In 2004 we spent a day in the museum. The thousands of exhibits will reward you for the time spent there.