When it comes to traveling to Gulangyu, most tourists choose to visit popular attractions such as Riguangyan. After all, everyone comes here to experience the scenery of the island. In fact, Gulangyu Island has a "long" history and there are many places to visit on the island. This time we came to the Forbidden City Gulangyu Foreign Cultural Relics Museum on Gulangyu Island to experience it. Perhaps it is because it has just opened, the cultural relics museum is not well-known and has few people. It is very quiet, which forms a sharp contrast to the bustling Gulangyu Island outside.

The Gulangyu Foreign Cultural Relics Museum of the Forbidden City was jointly built by the Xiamen City Government and the Palace Museum. It is the first themed branch established by the Palace Museum in the local area. It displays the foreign cultural relics of the Ming and Qing dynasties collected by the Palace Museum. This is the original Salvation Hospital (a national key cultural relic protection unit, founded by Dutch-American John Yu in 1898) and three existing buildings, including the outpatient building and inpatient department, nurse building, and supporting building, were transformed into the Gulangyu Foreign Cultural Relics Museum of the Forbidden City.

The exhibition hall has a display area of more than 2800 square meters and was officially opened to the public in May 2017.

It is indeed small compared to the Palace Museum in Beijing, but the exhibits inside are still very shocking. We walked, watched and photographed in the exhibition hall, and also walked for more than two hours.

The exhibition hall currently displays 250 pieces (sets) of cultural relics, which are divided into six parts: "Sources of Cultural Relics","Models of Science and Technology","Ceramic Style of World","Chance of Life","Elegant Furnishings", and "Extraordinary Works of Foreign Countries". The display parts mainly include lacquerware, pottery, porcelain, glass, enamel, metalware, jade, furniture, clocks, scientific and technological instruments, etc. They come from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Japan, India, Turkey and other countries and regions. Its era ranges from the 16th century to the early 20th century, with the majority occurring in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The sword on display in the exhibition hall comes from Indonesia and dates from the 20th century. The overall asymmetry of the Krix sword is made of gold, silver and ivory. The handle is engraved with characters and inlaid with gems. This is an extremely exquisite Krix sword. For local people, the Krix sword is both a weapon and a ceremonial item, and it is also worth guarding evil spirits. Krix Sword is a representative of local ethnic culture.

The museum is divided into six parts, allowing tourists to see the daily necessities of princes and aristocrats from the scientific and technological instruments in the Qing Palace.

This is an 18th-century British clock from the Qing Dynasty. It is 134 centimeters wide, 78 centimeters thick and 192 centimeters high. The lower part of the clock is a rock-shaped base with music and movable mechanical devices inside. There are oil paintings with lakes and mountains between the front and back of the base, and there are sailboats that can move forward on the lake. A cave is arranged on the left side of the base. A lion stands at the entrance of the cave. It is pulled by machinery and can move forward or retreat at the entrance of the cave with the music. In the center of the platform on the base stood an elephant, carrying a two-story pavilion on its back. In the first pavilion stood a non-commissioned officer wearing a sword. Above the pavilion is the chronograph section with a white enamel clock plate with a trophy on top of the clock and a treasure star-shaped flower inserted in the cup.

This clock is tall and carefully made. After being activated, under the sound of music, the sailboats and runners on three sides of the base will slowly move forward. The lion will come out and enter the hole. The elephant's eyes will rotate, its nose and tail will swing, and the sergeant in the center of the pavilion will patrol left and right. It is reported that it took a year for the Palace Museum restorers to repair the clock's functions.

The picture shows the museum's treasure. The copper-gilded elephant carrying flower clock from the United Kingdom two hundred years ago is located in the center of the first floor. Its golden appearance, exquisite workmanship, and huge shape make people feel particularly expensive. Its exquisite local workmanship is enough to allow tourists to stay for a long time.

This exhibit is a French watch from the late 19th century from the Qing Dynasty. The hull is placed on a marble seat, two cylinders stand on the deck, and a thermometer is placed. The chimney between the two cylinders is embedded in the side of the thermometer, and a compass is placed on the top. This watch is a French-made watch distributed by Swiss Uliven Trading Company in China. It belongs to an industrial model watch. At the end of the 19th century, Western industrialization was quite mature, and industrial models became popular around the world and became prominent decorations in the family. Watchmakers added clocks to industrial models to make the two seamless. The picture shows a copper-plated and enamel-inlaid bird clock in France from the late 9th century or early 20th century.

This is an 18th century British mirror from the Qing Dynasty. The mirror consists of two parts: a base and a mirror. The front and back sides of the base depict natural scenery, with ships, cattle and horses moving between them. On the left side is the concert scene, with three performers playing cello, violin and playing plucked instruments respectively; on the right side is the scene of the racecourse, with knights leading horses, some drawing water, and others nailing horses. Mirrors are both practical objects, furnishings and ornamental toys. After winding the winding and starting, music plays, and the performer moves his arms like a performance. The arms of the water collector and the horseshoes move as if they are working.

This is a copper plate from India and dates from the 20th century. The copper plate is huge and engraved to record Indian mythological stories.

As the first Forbidden City branch, most of the exhibits in the museum were moved from the Forbidden City in Beijing. Because there are too many cultural relics in the Forbidden City in Beijing, it is said that many of the cultural relics here were originally stored in the warehouse of the Forbidden City in Beijing. The scale inside is not large, but the collection is rich, unique and romantic.

The bell shell is of a square pavilion style, copper-plated, and has four columns. The front and left and right sides of the bell body are decorated with chiseled enamel patterns. Micro-painted figure painting enamel tiles are embedded under the front bell plate and on the left and right sides, showing the image of a little goddess of love and a fairy. The clock has two sets of two-needle travel clocks.

There is "SENNET. FRERES. The word PARISCHINE ", and the word" AD. A circular mark with the words "MOUGIN" and the origin mark of "Made in France". SENNET FRERES Company was a trading company that operated watches and jewelry in China in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and had branches in China. This clock is an exquisite product manufactured by the French AD.Mougin Bell Factory sold by the company in China.

There are two copper-gilded mechanical stand clocks made in France in the early 19th century. The stand clocks are entirely made of bronze. The carving is extremely exquisite, and I can't help but be amazed at how great the craftsmanship spirit of those days was!

The museum is fully stocked with scientific and technological items, porcelain, daily necessities, furnishings, jade and other cultural relics, which can be visited in an hour. If you don't have time to go to the Forbidden City, you can come here to experience the style of Gulangyu in addition to the fresh temperament of Gulangyu.

Tips:

Scenic spot tickets:Adult ticket is RMB 50/person, discount ticket is RMB 40/person

Opening hours:Tuesday to Friday: 9:00-19:00(admission stops at 18:30); weekends and holidays: 9:00-20:00(admission stops at 19:30).※ Closed all day on Mondays and New Year's Eve (except holidays, winter and summer vacations)

Xiamen Tourism Annual Card (Outdoor Sports Card) Service content:Big ticket for the scenic spot, excluding complimentary coffee drinks

Scenic area address:No. 80, Guxin Road, Gulangyu, Siming District (the former site of Salvation Hospital, on the right hand side of Sanqiutian Wharf, 200 meters northwest along the coastline)

Traffic guide:The Cultural Relics Museum is not far from Sanqiutian Pier and is about a five-minute walk from Sanqiutian Pier.