Nanjing, capital city of present-day Jiangsu Province and once the capital of six dynasties, is home to a rich collection of cultural relics that bear witness to thousands of years of Chinese civilization. 

The facade of the Nanjing Museum. 

The Nanjing Museum in Nanjing City, east China’s Jiangsu Province, was founded in 1933, and is China’s first large-scale comprehensive museum built with national investment. In 1959, the Nanjing Museum and the Jiangsu Provincial Museum merged under the name “Nanjing Museum.”

Today, the 70,000-square-meter museum houses a collection of more than 430,000 (sets) cultural relics. Some valuable items are classified as national treasures, including the Western Han Gold Beast, the Southern Dynasties Molded-Brick Reliefs Depicting Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove and Rong Qiqi, and Kunyu Wanguo Quantu, the Chinese-language world map created by the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Western Han Gold Beast is one of the most prized treasures of the Nanjing Museum. 

Western Han Gold Beast 

The Western Han Gold Beast is one of the museum’s most beloved treasures. The golden creature, resembling a large, adorable cat, rests its head on its front paws, with its body curled up and its round eyes wide open in alertness, as if guarding something of great importance.

Measuring 17.5 cm in length and 16 cm in width, it is roughly the size of a three-month-old kitten. Its perplexing appearance – somewhere between a tiger and a leopard – divide people on what the type of cat it is, although the leopard interpretation is more widely accepted given the spotted patterns covering its body.

The cat-like golden sculpture weighs a hefty 9,100 grams, with a gold purity level reaching 99 percent. Judging from the inscriptions in its interior chamber and its gold content, researchers date it no later than the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 25), as is evidenced by its name. The Western Han Dynasty was known for its wide use of gold, whether as imperial rewards or in everyday transactions.

This item was crafted with mold casting and hammering techniques, two primary goldware crafting skills used in ancient China, yet rare to be used together in making a single object. The sculpture’s uniform, irregular circular spots created by hammering after the initial casting, enhanced its reflective surface effects and gave it a dazzling appearance. Among excavated artifacts from the same period, this piece stands out in terms of its size, craftsmanship, and gold purity.

Eight Sentimentalists 

During the 300 years spanning the period from the warlord Sun Quan’s declaration as emperor in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), to the Sui Dynasty’s (581-618) unification of China, six successive dynasties – Eastern Wu, Eastern Jin, Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen – all established their capitals in Nanjing. They are collectively called the Six Dynasties.

During that period, southern China was spared large-scale warfare and enjoyed greater stability compared with the war-torn Central Plains. As a result, the region developed into a thriving economic and cultural center, and Nanjing became home to many influential families. This period is also known for deep introspection, where some sections of society began to reflect on earlier social values, explore the meaning of the individual, and pursue spiritual freedom.

At that time, this spirit was manifested not only in poetry and prose, but also in afterlife spaces. Tombs of emperors and nobles were exquisite. Many of their chamber walls were decorated with brick murals in diverse themes. Among them, the brick relief featuring the seven sages of the bamboo grove and Rong Qiqi, now on view at the Nanjing Museum, is the earliest discovered, best preserved, and most well-crafted example.

Unearthed from a Southern Dynasties (420-589) tomb in Nanjing, the relief was originally part of the north and south walls of the tomb chamber, each side composed of nearly 300 bricks. The figures depicted include the “Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove,” a group of famous scholars from the third century B.C., along with Rong Qiqi, a hermit of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.).

All eight figures are sitting on the ground, drinking, playing the zither, or chatting. Their attire and postures appear casual and unrestrained. Each of them is labeled by name and framed by trees. While each figure is emphasized individually, the work is harmoniously presented as a whole.

These reliefs are characterized by clean yet expressive lines, typical of the artistic style of the time: demonstrating people’s inner spirit through simple line and form, rather than through complicated, ostentatious imaginary of surroundings and background. This principle has become a cornerstone of traditional Chinese aesthetics, exerting a profound and over-reaching influence on the nation’s art. Notably, since that time, mainstream art in China is no longer merely a tool serving imperial instruction or god worship, but a medium for an individual’s spontaneous self-expression.

The creation of China’s first world map would not have been possible without a devoted Italian missionary Matteo Ricci. More than 400 years ago, he traveled along the Maritime Silk Road to south China’s Guangdong Province for missionary work, but soon discovered that people were far more interested in his maps than in church stories.

In 1602, in the capital Beijing, he collaborated with Ming Dynasty official Li Zhizao to produce the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu (meaning map of the myriad countries of the world), the earliest Chinese-language world map. The original woodblock edition has been lost and only a colored copy made in 1608 survives today, which measures 3.8 meters in length and 1.92 meters in width.

The entire map consists of a world map, four small maps in four corners, and some annotations in Chinese. The main map shows the relative positions of the five continents. Notably, Australia is absent, as Oceania had not yet been discovered by Europeans at the time. Unlike traditional Eurocentric world maps, China was placed at the center of the world on the map.

To help Ming Chinese “understand the world through a single map,” the cartographers spared no effort. A total of 1,114 place names are marked, and every blank space is filled with explanations and notes. On the left and right edges of the map are two essays by Matteo Ricci, the earliest texts introducing European geographical theories to China. The right essay explains basic knowledge about the Earth, including the equator, the poles, and the concept of the five continents. The left essay repeatedly uses the term “地球 (Earth)”, the first known appearance of the word in the Chinese language, and thus becomes the term referring to the globe in Chinese. The map also contains many illustrations, including nine types of 16th-century sailing vessels and 23 strange animals, such as ostriches, white elephants, lions, and whales.

More than 400 years ago, Ricci referred to a map of Europe by Abraham Ortelius, a 16th century European cartographer, among other maps when completing the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu. Over 400 years later, in 2014, during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Europe, the then President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, gave him a map of Europe by Ortelius as a gift. These two maps stand as witnesses to the history of the Maritime Silk Road and as enduring symbols of the meeting of Chinese and Western civilizations.

Visitors walk around the Republic of China Gallery at the Nanjing Museum. 

Themed Galleries 

In 2025, drawing inspiration from the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu, the Nanjing Museum presented an exhibition “Mapping the World: The Kunyu Wanguo Quantu of Ming China.” In the over 100-square-meter tech-assisted gallery, visitors on virtual-reality (VR) headsets can explore the ancestors’ thoughts in geography, astronomy, and navigation through an interactive experience.

Because this paper-based item requires a “resting period” after every three months of display, many visitors may miss its display time. However, the new exhibition allows appreciation and understanding of more details and background knowledge surrounding this treasure.

The Republic of China (1912-1949) Gallery is a nostalgic, retro-themed space that recreates the urban landscape of early 20th-century Nanjing through typical streets and architecture from the period. Many shops lining the street are authentic, functional businesses, such as a post office, pharmacy, bookstore, silver ornament shop, and shops for Jiangsu pastries. Other facilities include a railway station and a hair salon which also take visitors back to city life a century ago.

In addition, there is a gallery designed specifically for visitors with visual impairments. Covering nearly 200 square meters, the gallery features 1:1 replicas of the museum’s star exhibits, interactive items, and a fully automated audio-guide vehicle designed for visually impaired and mobility-impaired visitors.

In the areas designed for low-vision and light-sensitive visitors, exhibits are mainly paintings and calligraphy works. Visitors can follow handrails and examine the objects up close. When someone approaches a painting, an audio description is triggered automatically. A short introduction written in braille is also provided below each piece. In another area, the visually impaired can touch artifact replicas while listening to audio narration.