The museum boasts of about 200,000 historical relics, including the world-renowned precious objects, like the excavated chime bells of Zeng Houyi, the bronze sword of Gou Jian, King of Yue State, etc. The Chime Bell Hall, built and opened in 1999, has become a bright window to show the Chinese mysterious and splendid civilization to the people around the world. Buried for nearly 2,400 years, the chimes can still play beautiful music, whether Chinese or foreign, ancient or modern, so that it is called the Eighth World Miracle.

In the summer of 1978, Hubei provincial archaeologists working near Cheng Guan (present-day Suizhou) in Sui County excavated a huge tomb more than 2,400 years old. Dating back from around 433 BC, the tomb belongs to Marquis Yi of the state of Zeng, one of the hosts of lesser states during the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.). More than 15,000 relics were excavated from the tomb, including the bronze ritual vessels, coffins, musical instruments, gold and jade decorative items, lacquerware, weapons and inscribed bamboo strips.