Beijing Museum of Traditional Operas

The Beijing Museum of Traditional Operas is located at No. 3, Hufang Road, Beijing. It initially functioned as Huguang Guildhall built in the 12th year of the Jiaqing Period in the Qing Dynasty and served as a meeting center in Beijing for students and merchants from the Hunan Province and Hubei Province in the Qing Dynasty. It was first open to the public on September 6, 1997, and it has since become an art palace that combines entertainment, tourism, and the popularization of science as one in China’s capital city. Visitors can not only learn about the biographies of famous opera masters, costumes, and musical instruments, but also appreciate performances by talented famous local artists.

Covering an area of 43,000 square meters, the museum is composed of 3 sections: a theater stage in the front; Wenchang Pavilion, County Sage Hall, and Meridian Well in the middle; and Baoshan Hall and Chuwan Hall in the back. The spectacular theater stage, which has been renovated to look as it traditionally did in the old eras, has a background decorated with phoenix, dragon, and peony patterns. Its bleachers in the north, west, and east can hold a total of more than 1,000 audience members at a time.

The core displays are the Traditional Chinese Opera History Exhibition and Huguang Guildhall History Exhibition, of which the former displays the developmental course of Peking Opera and Kun Opera in the forms of opera documents, cultural relics, photos, and audio and visual materials. Other main artifacts in the museum are an Apprenticed to A Master Painting, an imperial phonograph, violins, harmonicas, and tablets.

Address: No. 3, Hufang Road, Beijing
Hours: 9:00 am to 5:30 pm every day except Monday
Bus routes: 6, 14, 15, 23, 25, 45, 66, and 102