China Guide
Yunnan
Yunnan Provincial Museum
Opening time: Daily 9.30am–5.30pm; last entry 4.30pm
Price: ¥10
Address: Dongfeng Xi Lu (bus #5 bus)
The Yunnan Provincial Museum has its moments, even if the building itself is dim, dusty and largely empty. Best are the Dian bronzes on the second floor, dating back more than two thousand years to the Warring States Period and excavated from tombs on the shores of Dian Chi, south of Kunming. The largest pieces include an ornamental plate of a tiger attacking an ox and a coffin in the shape of a bamboo house, but lids from storage drums used to hold cowries are the most impressive, decorated with dioramas of figurines fighting, sacrificing oxen and men and, rather more peacefully, posing with their families and farmyard animals outside their homes. A replica of the Chinese imperial gold seal given to the Dian king early in the second century implies that his aristocratic slave society had the tacit approval of the Han emperor. Upstairs again is a porcelain gallery and an exhibition of paintings by the Qing-dynasty artist Dan Dang.