It was a windy and chilly day. We decided to go for an indoor activity to avoid the cold.

The National Museum of China was an apparent choice since it’s within walking distance from Qianmen Dajie. It is located on the eastern side of Tiananmen Square. The entrance to the museum is free. You can imagine the line as everyone was trying to get indoor.

The National Museum of China is huge. It has a total floor space of  200,000 square meters for display. This museum was a merger of the Museum of the Chinese Revolution on the northern wing and the National Museum of Chinese History on the southern wing.

This building was built in 1959 for the celebration of the tenth year anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. It is directly across the Great Hall of the People built at the same time.

The above is from the Chinese history section.

A replica of a pagoda made of wood.

We did not cover the whole museum as we were tired. Ben who had been to this museum several times just sat at benches around the display to wait for me. I just browse through some sections. The drawback here is that most of the illustrations were in Chinese. We wish they have more English illustrations.

On the way back to our hotel passing through Wangfujing, we stopped by a time honored hat shop. It’s fun to try out some of the hats.