Jining, the birthplace of Confucius and heartland of Confucian culture, is peppered with museums. The most significant of these are the Confucius Museum and the Jining Museum.

The Confucian Museum. [Photo/WeChat account: jnwhlyj]

The Confucian Museum, which opened on Sept 6, 2019, primarily houses collections sourced from the Confucius mansion. The design and planning of the museum were undertaken by Wu Liangyong, a member of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering.

As part of the "Three Confucian Sites", the museum contains around 700,000 cultural relics. These include 300,000 Confucius family documents from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) onwards, over 40,000 ancient books from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) onwards, and more than 8,000 pieces of clothing from the Ming and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties. The exhibition space in the Confucius Museum spans 17,000 square meters.

The Cultural Center venue of the Jining Museum. [Photo/WeChat account: jnwhlyj]

Established in 1985, the Jining Museum boasts exhibits related to history, art, and humanities. The museum can be found in two locations: the Guhuai Road venue and the Cultural Center venue.

The Guhuai Road venue of the Jining Museum is situated at No 78 Guhuai Road in Rencheng district. It has two sections: the ancient architectural ensemble of the Tieta Temple to the east and a group of antique-style buildings, centered on the main exhibition building, to the west.

The Cultural Center venue of the Jining Museum opened in September 2019 and is located at the Jining Culture Center in the Taibai Lake New Area. This museum houses seven large permanent exhibits and a collection of 160,000 sets of valuable relics.