CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- Do you know the places where these treasures, like Paisley Bronze Spear, rare stones and Chickering & Sons Piano are collected?

There are several non-state-owned museums in Chongqing, which owns many special collections while draws less attention before. Up to June 2019, a total of 23 non-state-owned museums (13 of which are opened for free) have been registered with the Chongqing Cultural Heritage Department, whose collections have distinctive features and fills a number of gaps in the categories of Chongqing museums.

The following unique non-state-owned museums in main urban districts are listed for you.

Baolin Art Museum

To appreciate art treasures of Sui and Tang dynasties

Compared to large comprehensive museums, though it is small in scale, it owns special features and stories.

It has been opened to the public for free since July 1, 2011, and was selected as a National 3A Tourism Attraction in June 2013.

Nearly 7,000 objects are collected in this museum, covering many categories, like pottery, bronze ware, jade ware, inscription rubbing, stone carving and painting and calligraphy, among which 200 cultural relics have been approved as National 3A Cultural Relics.

Jiulong Agilawood Museum

To appreciate times via agilawood 

Many people may be not familiar with agilawood, which is a kind of spice with abundant cultural elements and worth studying and appreciating by time.

At present, the museum has more than 500 groups of agilawood collected from Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and other regions, as well as hundreds of utensils and burners of agilawood from the Han, Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties. It is divided into 9 parts to explain stories and secrets of agilawood systematically and precisely.

Chongqing Yangtze River Stone Art Museum

To appreciate special stone culture of the Yangtze River

There is a true story said that in 1997, Liu Changpei, who had just turned his 40s, picked up stones on the riverbank near Luohuang, Jiangjin. After walking for more than 10 kilometers, he was deeply attracted by a pebble on the riverbank, a pebble with graceful lines, seeming like a pine tree.

He loved the pebble so much that he bought it home and then he created an oil painting for covering it to demonstrate its lines. He called this pebble “An Unyielding Pine Tree”. In 2005, this pebble was favored by a master expert in identifying stones and then the expert purchased it for tens of thousands of yuan.

In 2007, he classified all the stones he collected over the past decades and established a stone art exhibition institute called “Chongqing Yangtze River Stone Art Institute”. In 2013, after being approved by relevant authorities, this institute was upgraded to Chongqing Yangtze River Stone Art Museum, also one of the first batch of non-state-owned museums in Chongqing.

At present, this exhibition hall covers an area of 400 square meters, with a collection of more than 7,000 square meters of Yangtze River special stones, among which there are more than 2,000 square meters of fine special stones on display. These special stones have won many awards in foreign and domestic stone exhibitions, among which some even are exhibited on exhibitions at home and abroad.

Huangjueping Piano Museum

To witness the legendary of the King of Piano

Do you want to know why the Chickering & Sons piano is called the king? Do you want to enjoy the charm of the Grotrian-Steinweg piano? All precious pianos can be appreciated in Huangjueping Piano Museum in Chongqing.

This museum has been opened since September 19, 2015, covering an area of 7,000 square meters, which is divided into several sections, like concert hall, ancient piano exhibition hall, symphony rehearsal hall and music library. It has a collection of more than 300 world-renowned antique pianos, with 100,000 visits annually.

Collections in the museum come from all over the world. There are many famous pianos customized for well-known pianists, like the world famous composer Camille Saint-Saëns, the world famous pianist Clara Schumann and the German queen Mary Louis and others. In addition, the super piano of Grotrian-Steinweg, which is made for tens of millions of yuan, is exhibited here.

The feature of the Chickering & Sons piano, made in 1855, are that it is made of padauk and African ebony is used for its black keys. It was an “imperial piano” presented by the King of France to the composer Camille Saint-Saëns. As a well-known piano brand with a long history, its manufacturing techniques are always on the leading edge. Many pianists, composers and musicians favored the Chickering & Sons piano when they started to use it, making the piano the title of the “King of Piano”. (Translated by Mao Qiao, Fathom Language Limited)