Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum

The Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum, located in Yuzhong District, showcases the history and culture of the Three Gorges region and Chongqing city. Established in 2005, it houses over 180,000 cultural relics, including artifacts from the Three Gorges area, bronze wares from the Ba and Shu states, and items from the Han Dynasty. The museum features four main exhibition halls: ‘The Magnificent Three Gorges,’ ‘Far Ancient Chongqing,’ ‘Chongqing City Road,’ and ‘The Years of Anti-Japanese War.’ Visitors can also experience a 360-degree cinema presenting the natural and social scenery of the Three Gorges before the dam’s construction. Admission is free, and the museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, closed on Mondays. It is located at 236 Renmin Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing. For more information, visit their official website at http://www.3gmuseum.cn/.

Planning your visit

The Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing exists in part as a rescue archive. When the Three Gorges Dam raised the Yangtze and flooded the valley behind it, archaeological material and cultural artefacts from towns and sites that would disappear underwater were excavated and relocated, and many ended up here. Opened in 2005 facing the People's Auditorium across a public square in Yuzhong District, the museum holds over 180,000 relics across four main halls: the gorges themselves and the dam project, ancient Ba and Shu bronzes from the kingdoms that preceded Chinese unification, the growth of Chongqing as a river city, and the years when it served as China's wartime capital under sustained Japanese bombing. A 360-degree cinema screens the gorges as they looked before the water rose.

That last point gives the museum unusual weight: for the landscape it documents, this is now the record rather than a supplement to it. Admission is free, it closes on Mondays, and a focused visit runs around two hours. English labelling is limited, which is the main practical obstacle.

Bookable options reflect that gap. Entry registration and self-guided entry with digital guides cover independent visits. Private VIP guided tours go considerably deeper into the bronzes and the wartime material, which reward explanation. Cultural heritage tours combine the museum with the People's Auditorium directly opposite, a 1950s building modelled on the Temple of Heaven and a landmark in its own right. Current options are shown below.