The China Agricultural Museum, and the National Agricultural Exhibition Center, are two appellations for the same institution attached to the Ministry of Agriculture of PRC. It’s located at Dongsanhuan North Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing. In July 1983, the preparation for the construction of CAM started under the authorization of the State Council; it opened its doors to the public on 13 Sep. 1986.
The premises of CAM were initially the structures for the National Agricultural Exhibition Center Complex built in 1959. The location, scale, layout, and construction style of the National Agricultural Exhibition Center were examined and approved by Premier Zhou En Lai, as a commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of PRC; it was built up and put into operation before the National Day (1 Oct.) 1959, and was listed as one of the “Top Ten Constructions” in Beijing in 1950s; it was the only large-scale exhibition center in the garden-style in China.
The Structures and the Environment
The total premises of the China Agricultural Museum occupy an area of 430 thousand square meters，the construction area is 124 thousand square meters. The main construction of the museum consists of 10 separate exhibition halls with ethnic features, the main Office Building, Collections’ Storehouse, and some other accessory buildings. The No. 1 Hall is located on the main axis of the museum and looks on to the main gate of the complex; the No. 2 and No. 3 Halls are lined up on its north and south; the No. 4 Hall and No. 5 Hall stands symmetrically face to face, and so are No. 5 and No. 6 Halls; the No. 8, 9, 10 Halls are at the back of the southern part of the museum, in the shape of a triangle. The ten halls are one harmonious whole: grand and magnificent; majestic and spectacular. On the back of No. 1, 2, 3 Halls, three lakes with an area of 41 thousand square meters are interconnected with each other. The lakes ripple in the winds while fish and ducks play on them happily; fragrant flowers and weeping willows line the lakeside. The halls are connected by galleries, square pavilions, and colonnades. Various flowers and trees are planted on both sides of the galleries. Pines, cypresses, gingkos, and willows can be seen everywhere in the museum. The traditional ethnic constructions, flowers and trees, lakes and clouds reinforce each other's beauty, making a pleasant and charming view.
Indoor Display and Outdoor Exhibition
CAM officially opened in September 1986, with three regular displays: “China Agricultural Technological History in Ancient Times”, “Natural Agricultural Resources Division”, and “China Marine Resources ”. In 1991, “China Energy Resources Hall opened, and “Garden of a Hundred Herbs” was completed; by then, the whole display area had reached nearly ten thousand square meters, including four regular displays: Agricultural History, Resources, Marine Resources, Energy Resources; and the outdoor Exhibition Garden combining indoor display with outdoor tours, and integrating agricultural resources with the agricultural history. Afterwards, the museum successively opened some important displays and exhibitions such as “China Modern Agricultural Technological Display”, “Traditional Farm Tool Exhibition”, “Soil Sample Exhibition”, “Aquatic Creature Exhibition”, and “Terrestrial Creature Exhibition”. In 2006, the state had successively invested nearly 3 hundred million Yuan on the renovation of the halls, park areas, exhibitions, and displays; the renovation, construction and preparation of new displays lasted for three years. During that period, the museum held “China Farmers’ Art Exhibition” and “Farmers’ Photo in China Agricultural Village Exhibition” in July 2008 and from June to September 2009. In September 2009, the reconstructed halls and displays reopened to the public.
The current display system in CAM includes three parts: basic displays, themed displays, and outdoor exhibition gardens. The indoor displays cover 6600 square meters while the outdoor exhibition gardens occupy approximately 10000 square meters. The basic displays are the “Chinese Agricultural Civilization Display” in No. 2 and No. 4 halls, with an area of 4850 square meters; the themed displays include “Ancient Agriculture Reflected in Colored Pottery”, “China Traditional Agricultural Tools”, “China Soil Samples”, “Popular Agricultural Science for Young Visitors” are respectively displayed in No. 10, No. 9, No. 8, and No. 7 Halls, with an area of 300 square meters, 400 square meters, 400 square meters, and 650 square meters of display respectively. The outdoor exhibition garden offers two exhibitions: “Traditional Farming in Ancient Times” and “Modern Science Farming”.
The Special Features and Number of Collections in China Agricultural Museum
The China Agricultural Museum, a national-level special category museum, preserves an abundance of collections, with nearly 50 thousand items of agricultural relics, samples, ancient books, and traditional farm tools, of which around 20 thousand being cultural relics and 30 thousand being precious ancient books. Stoneware relics mainly from the Neolith Age; earthenware relics mainly of burial objects and colored pottery; bronze ware relics; ironware relics; traditional farm tools; ink-stones; ancient silk fabrics; food coupons; and agricultural posters, already make up featured series. Some collection categories are at the top in the country.
The museum has around 200 Neolithic relics including: stone axes, stone adzes, stone chisels, stone shovels, and stone plates, etc.; and potteries including colored potteries, white potteries, black potteries, painted potteries, monochrome-glazed potteries, multicolor-glazed potteries, and tri-colored glazed potteries of Tang Dynasty, etc., and most of the potteries were funerary wares except for colored pottery. 100 pieces of bronze-ware relics including weaponry, daily utensils, or sacrificial vessels, among which the bronze cooking vessels and wine vessels in Shang Dynasty, the bronze cooking vessels, round-mouth food vessels, cooking tripods in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and the bronze chimes, bronze cauldrons, pots, washbasins with a tubular handle from the Warring States period are all high-value collections. About 300 iron-made farm tools - which are mainly ironware in the Liao/Jin Dynastry unearthed from north China.In addition, the CAM collects about 5000 traditional farm tools from all over China (except Taiwan), considered as the institution in possession of the most, and the most complete, collections of traditional farm tools.About 2000 agricultural posters are in the CAM collections, most of which are created by such well-known artists as Mei Sheng Jin, Mei Lin Han, Xiang Lan Ge, and Wen Xi Liou, with the CAM owning the most agricultural posters. The library of CAM has the most collections of ancient agricultural books in China, being one of the “Top Three Collection Units in China”, possessing nearly 70 thousand documents, of which 30 thousand being special and valuable documents. The natural sample collected by the CAM are classified into three categories: Precious Animal Samples; Precious Plant Samples; and Soil Samples, the valuable samples of the three categories amounting to 3000. The 226 soil samples of approximately 120 different types, making the museum the collector of the most complete categories, a bank of the riches collections of soil samples, with a complete soil sample series of considerable agricultural science value.
The premises of CAM were initially the structures for the National Agricultural Exhibition Center Complex built in 1959. The location, scale, layout, and construction style of the National Agricultural Exhibition Center were examined and approved by Premier Zhou En Lai, as a commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of PRC; it was built up and put into operation before the National Day (1 Oct.) 1959, and was listed as one of the “Top Ten Constructions” in Beijing in 1950s; it was the only large-scale exhibition center in the garden-style in China.
The Structures and the Environment
The total premises of the China Agricultural Museum occupy an area of 430 thousand square meters，the construction area is 124 thousand square meters. The main construction of the museum consists of 10 separate exhibition halls with ethnic features, the main Office Building, Collections’ Storehouse, and some other accessory buildings. The No. 1 Hall is located on the main axis of the museum and looks on to the main gate of the complex; the No. 2 and No. 3 Halls are lined up on its north and south; the No. 4 Hall and No. 5 Hall stands symmetrically face to face, and so are No. 5 and No. 6 Halls; the No. 8, 9, 10 Halls are at the back of the southern part of the museum, in the shape of a triangle. The ten halls are one harmonious whole: grand and magnificent; majestic and spectacular. On the back of No. 1, 2, 3 Halls, three lakes with an area of 41 thousand square meters are interconnected with each other. The lakes ripple in the winds while fish and ducks play on them happily; fragrant flowers and weeping willows line the lakeside. The halls are connected by galleries, square pavilions, and colonnades. Various flowers and trees are planted on both sides of the galleries. Pines, cypresses, gingkos, and willows can be seen everywhere in the museum. The traditional ethnic constructions, flowers and trees, lakes and clouds reinforce each other's beauty, making a pleasant and charming view.
Indoor Display and Outdoor Exhibition
CAM officially opened in September 1986, with three regular displays: “China Agricultural Technological History in Ancient Times”, “Natural Agricultural Resources Division”, and “China Marine Resources ”. In 1991, “China Energy Resources Hall opened, and “Garden of a Hundred Herbs” was completed; by then, the whole display area had reached nearly ten thousand square meters, including four regular displays: Agricultural History, Resources, Marine Resources, Energy Resources; and the outdoor Exhibition Garden combining indoor display with outdoor tours, and integrating agricultural resources with the agricultural history. Afterwards, the museum successively opened some important displays and exhibitions such as “China Modern Agricultural Technological Display”, “Traditional Farm Tool Exhibition”, “Soil Sample Exhibition”, “Aquatic Creature Exhibition”, and “Terrestrial Creature Exhibition”. In 2006, the state had successively invested nearly 3 hundred million Yuan on the renovation of the halls, park areas, exhibitions, and displays; the renovation, construction and preparation of new displays lasted for three years. During that period, the museum held “China Farmers’ Art Exhibition” and “Farmers’ Photo in China Agricultural Village Exhibition” in July 2008 and from June to September 2009. In September 2009, the reconstructed halls and displays reopened to the public.
The current display system in CAM includes three parts: basic displays, themed displays, and outdoor exhibition gardens. The indoor displays cover 6600 square meters while the outdoor exhibition gardens occupy approximately 10000 square meters. The basic displays are the “Chinese Agricultural Civilization Display” in No. 2 and No. 4 halls, with an area of 4850 square meters; the themed displays include “Ancient Agriculture Reflected in Colored Pottery”, “China Traditional Agricultural Tools”, “China Soil Samples”, “Popular Agricultural Science for Young Visitors” are respectively displayed in No. 10, No. 9, No. 8, and No. 7 Halls, with an area of 300 square meters, 400 square meters, 400 square meters, and 650 square meters of display respectively. The outdoor exhibition garden offers two exhibitions: “Traditional Farming in Ancient Times” and “Modern Science Farming”.
The Special Features and Number of Collections in China Agricultural Museum
The China Agricultural Museum, a national-level special category museum, preserves an abundance of collections, with nearly 50 thousand items of agricultural relics, samples, ancient books, and traditional farm tools, of which around 20 thousand being cultural relics and 30 thousand being precious ancient books. Stoneware relics mainly from the Neolith Age; earthenware relics mainly of burial objects and colored pottery; bronze ware relics; ironware relics; traditional farm tools; ink-stones; ancient silk fabrics; food coupons; and agricultural posters, already make up featured series. Some collection categories are at the top in the country.
The museum has around 200 Neolithic relics including: stone axes, stone adzes, stone chisels, stone shovels, and stone plates, etc.; and potteries including colored potteries, white potteries, black potteries, painted potteries, monochrome-glazed potteries, multicolor-glazed potteries, and tri-colored glazed potteries of Tang Dynasty, etc., and most of the potteries were funerary wares except for colored pottery. 100 pieces of bronze-ware relics including weaponry, daily utensils, or sacrificial vessels, among which the bronze cooking vessels and wine vessels in Shang Dynasty, the bronze cooking vessels, round-mouth food vessels, cooking tripods in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and the bronze chimes, bronze cauldrons, pots, washbasins with a tubular handle from the Warring States period are all high-value collections. About 300 iron-made farm tools - which are mainly ironware in the Liao/Jin Dynastry unearthed from north China.In addition, the CAM collects about 5000 traditional farm tools from all over China (except Taiwan), considered as the institution in possession of the most, and the most complete, collections of traditional farm tools.About 2000 agricultural posters are in the CAM collections, most of which are created by such well-known artists as Mei Sheng Jin, Mei Lin Han, Xiang Lan Ge, and Wen Xi Liou, with the CAM owning the most agricultural posters. The library of CAM has the most collections of ancient agricultural books in China, being one of the “Top Three Collection Units in China”, possessing nearly 70 thousand documents, of which 30 thousand being special and valuable documents. The natural sample collected by the CAM are classified into three categories: Precious Animal Samples; Precious Plant Samples; and Soil Samples, the valuable samples of the three categories amounting to 3000. The 226 soil samples of approximately 120 different types, making the museum the collector of the most complete categories, a bank of the riches collections of soil samples, with a complete soil sample series of considerable agricultural science value.
