Established in 1958, Chengdu Museum is by far the largest comprehensive city museum in Southwest China as well as a national first-class museum. Since the opening of the new venue in 2016, it has received nearly 16 million visitors. Also titled “National Shadow Puppetry Museum in Chengdu” approved by the State Council in 2006, it is the first national museum in Sichuan Province and the only one in Chengdu.

The museum covers an area of about 11,333 square meters with a total floor area of around 65,000 square meters, of which about 20,000 square meters are devoted to exhibitions. There are three permanent exhibitions including “Full Bloom of the Brocade City: History and Culture Display of Chengdu (Ancient Times, Recent Historical Period and Folk Customs)”, “Shadow Play and Puppetry of China”, and “Man and Nature: Donations from Kenneth E. Behring”. The nearly 300,000 pieces of historical artifacts, shadow puppets, masterpieces of modern and contemporary paintings and calligraphy, and other series of cultural relics constitute a relatively complete collection across the eras from the Neolithic period to the Republic of China.

Chengdu Museum thoroughly implements the overall requirements of “building a park city demonstration zone that practices new development concepts” and “accelerating the construction of a world-renowned cultural city”, actively integrating into the general economic and social development of the city and maintaining its high-quality development. The museum has obtained a series of remarkable achievements, including nearly 30 national-level awards, such as the “National Cultural Heritage System Outstanding Group” granted by National Cultural Heritage Administration, “The Most Innovative Museum in China” honored by Museums Association of China, twice the “National Museum Top Ten Exhibition Excellence Award” and four times the “National Museum Top Ten Exhibition Excellence Promotion International, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Cooperation Finalists or Winning Award”, as well as nearly 100 provincial and municipal level honors, such as the “Sichuan Provincial Top Ten Exhibition Excellence Award”, “Sichuan Provincial Social Science Outstanding Achievement Award” and “Chengdu City Reform and Innovation Advanced Group”. Over 60 high-quality original and introduced exhibitions have been held, such as “Spirit of the Silk Road”, “Five Most Developed Cities in Qin and Han Dynasties of Ancient China”, “Discovering the Beauty of Traditional Chinese Medicine”, and “The Infinite Universe of Wuji”, with the level and influence of its exhibitions in the advanced ranks among domestic museums. Chengdu Museum was ranked 9th on the list of Top 100 Most-searched Museums in 2022, among the Top 10 Overseas Comprehensive Influence of National Museums and the 4th of the Top 10 Overseas Comprehensive Influence of Regional Comprehensive Museums, making it a new city cultural phenomenon to visit Chengdu Museum. Since September 2020, the museum launched the first “Weekend Children’s Museum” in China, which has benefited almost 50,000 families and more than 100,000 people. Taking advantage of the National Cultural Heritage Administration’s social education demonstration project, “Ba-Shu Culture Into the Campus”, Chengdu Museum collaborates with more than 40 schools and cultural and museum institutions in the Chengdu-Chongqing area and has served over 20,000 visits of students, a vivid practice of “a museum is a big school”.

Chengdu Museum has become a cultural landmark of Chengdu city, an “encyclopedia” that records and displays its magnificent history, and the spiritual home of Chengdu people. In the future, the museum will focus on the overall plans of building a park city demonstration zone with new development concepts and the construction of a world-renowned cultural city, striving to build a metropolitan museum of national excellence and international influence.