Wandering the cavernous halls of the provincial museum will take you deep into the multi-layered realms of Chinese history, with most exhibits focusing on archaeological excavations that date as far back as the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BC). As fascinating as the trove of funeral figurines, jade burial suits and bronze vessels are, the real star is the Quyang Stone Carvings collection, which features masterful ancient creations –– mostly Buddhist –– carved from Hebei’s Quyuan marble.

The museum is divided in two: the old building (the Zhongshan Donglu side) houses temporary exhibits; the new building houses the permanent collection.

Occupying an area of 53,128 square meters, among which 22,000 square meters are used for exhibitions, Hebei Museum has a total of 150,000 cultural relic collections.

Also, the museum is the home of over 50,000 books, the majority of which record the local history of places in Hebei.