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The salt Museum is located in Zigong City, which city is about 200 kilometres southeast of Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province. The Salt Museum was established in 1959, with over 1300 relics and samples about salty history and salty science, and remains one salty well and set of salty instrument and equipment. It is a key protected national cultural relic unit and the only salt museum in China.
The Salt Museum's specialty is the collection, studying and display of Chinese well-salt artifacts. One significant display is a unique and treasured collection of over 130 different types of ancient Chinese well-salt drilling tools, represented by 400 individual pieces. This display illustrates, through the different sizes, weights and shapes of tools, what must have been required to deal with the complicated situations faced in well-salt mining. Other displays within the museum showcase other well-salt historical cultural relics.
Zigong City derives its name from salt. Zigong is actually the combination of two famous salt production districts, artesian well and well. Salt production in Zigong can be traced back to the Donghan Dynasty, Zhang Emperor Period of the first century. It is the largest salt production district in ancient China. People directly or indirectly engaged in salt industry production gathered in this area of hundreds of square meters.
Xiqin Assembly Hall, in which the Salt Museum is located, was built during the Qing Dynasty by merchants from Shaanxi Province. At that time, the hall was called the "Countrymen Assembly Hall". The cost to build this structure was in the thousands in silver. It is easy for us to realize that this area flourished and developed as a result of the Zigong salt industry.
The majestic and spectacular Xiqin Assembly Hall has a design that is refined while the structure itself is odd. Covering an area of over 3000 square meters, the hall combines the palatial architectural art from the Qing Dynasty with folk architectural art. The most noticeable example of the architectural art is an 18 meter high gate-tower with a magnificent and colorfully carved gate. Other design elements to be enjoyed are the vermilion stone posts supporting four layers of eaves extending from the roof, each eave wider than the one above it. From the middle, the eaves appear as wings with twelve wingtips arched high on each side above the gateway. The design of the eaves brings to mind a flock of wild geese in flight. Below the eaves are four layers of symmetrically arranged swimming dragons, golden watermelons, sunflowers and colorful lamps on the left and right sides.
Besides the rare architectural art found in Xiqin Assembly Hall, there is also rich and beautifully carved stone and wood artwork throughout the structure. Hundreds of life-like characters, flowers, grasses, insect and fish are captured in the stone carvings. Over 500 wood carvings represent historic stories, legends and drama plots.
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