China just had a museum building spree. Here are 6 of the best.

12.10.2023 - 11:29 / nationalgeographic.com

China is amid an extraordinary museum boom, constructing more than 20 new cultural facilities since 2020. Set in cities, towns, and even mountain villages, they variously showcase archaeology, astronomy, science fiction, and imperial history.

Travelers returning to China, which is now reissuing tourist visas, will also find these museums showing off cutting-edge architecture. Some resemble giant log cabins, others mimic geological formations or are cloaked in thousands of glass “fish scales.” Collectively, they represent China’s vast resources and grand ambition, academics say.

“Museums are a must-have indicator of national rejuvenation, modernization, and civilization,” says Yingjie Guo, professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Sydney. “Even county towns have at least one.”

China’s size helps explain how it can execute so many major projects, says David Goodman, director of the Chinese Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. This nation covers a similar amount of land as the United States, but has more than four times the population, at 1.4 billion people.

“Admittedly most countries do not build one new major museum a year,” he says. “[But] the People’s Republic [of China] currently has 32 provincial-level jurisdictions, each of which is comparable to a country elsewhere in the world in terms of population, land area, languages, and cultural diversity.”

Meanwhile, their eye-catching architecture makes many Chinese museums “trophy buildings,” says Thomas Campanella, professor of city planning at Cornell University. “One of the hallmarks of contemporary Chinese urbanism is an emphasis on dazzling works of civic or institutional architecture, often by world-famous architects,” he explains. “[They’re] meant to signal arrival and status on the part of a municipality, not unlike a parvenu swanning about with a Prada bag or Rolex watch.”

Here are six of China’s most significant new museums.

From above it appears as if a massive metallic oyster has been shucked to expose a shimmering pearl. This avant-garde building offering the cosmos such a striking view houses the Shanghai Astronomy Museum. Launched in 2021, it is reputedly the world’s largest planetarium building, covering more than 630,000 square feet.

In its three main galleries—Home, Universe, and Journey—visitors can see 70 meteorites, 150 interactive exhibits, and more than a hundred artifacts linked to revered astronomers like Galileo. They can also watch high-definition footage of galaxies in a huge dome theater with an 8K screen.

(The world’s most powerful telescope is rewriting the story of space and time.)

Covered in 21,008 pieces of “fish scale” glass, designed to mimic a blooming hero flower, and boasting a five-story atrium, the