Chengdu Museum

Located in the west of Tianfu Square, Chengdu Museum is the biggest comprehensive museum in the city with the area of 6.5 hectares (16 acres). It consists of two towers. The southern one is used for administration, while the north is mainly used for exhibition areas. There are six storeys in the north tower, one basement floor and five floors above. The basement and first floor are used as temporary exhibition halls. The history of Chengdu is shown from the second to the fourth floor. The highest floor is used for demonstrations of Puppetry and Shadow Play.The history of Chengdu is shown from the second to the fourth floor of Chengdu Museum. Before the Qin Dynasty (211-206 BC), the ancient Chengdu had already developed their culture, which is depicted on the second floor. Over 240 cultural relics are displayed, including many ancient cultural sites, boat-shaped coffin graves and graphic language of ancient Chengdu. Through all those relics, the life of ancient local people is shown before us.

The third floor is an exhibition of Chengdu from Sui to Qing Dynasty (581-1911). As a main business city during the period, Chengdu flourished in commerce and handicraft industry. Over 600 artifacts are on show here, with pottery, porcelain, with gold as well as sliver included. This floor also exhibits the city's well-developed water transportation in Tang Dynasty (618-1279) and the flourishing market culture in Song Dynasty (960-1279) are on exhibition here.
  Modern Chengdu is shown on the fourth floor in the museum. Here you can appreciate lots of exhibitions like the 'admission form of the woman hero Jiang Sister', the transcript of General Zhu De, and the sword of a native warlord, Liu Xiang. In addition, the Folk Custom Exhibition Hall is another interesting place to visit. Plenty of the familiar folk scenes are re-created, bringing you to a wonderful local world.
 

Shadow Puppets

On the fifth floor of Chengdu Museum, you can appreciate puppetry and shadow plays of China. The puppetry exhibition is divided into seven zones, showing the history, different kinds of puppetry and the famous puppetry players. Over 200 relating exhibitions are displayed here. Shadow play has a long history in China. It combines the traditional singing and plays, creating a wonderful opera form.  
 By Metro:
Take Metro Line 1 or line 2 and get off at Tianfu Square Station.
By Bus:
1. Take bus 13/30/43/47/64/78 and get off at Xiyu Jie (Xiyu Road) Station.
2. Take bus 57/109 and get off at Dongchenggen Nanjie (South Dongchenggen Road) Station.
3. Take bus 16/45/53/61/Airport line 2 and get off at Tianfu Guangchang Dong (East of Tianfu Square) Station.
4. Take bus 26/45/63/118/334/G67 and get off at Renmin Nanlu Yiduan (First Section of South Renmin Road) Station.