Wuhan, the capital city of Wuchang District in the Hubei Province, boasts of a number of places, which are worth seeing from the tourist point of view and provide an insight into the rich cultural and religious heritage of China. The Hubei Provincial Museum is one such place located near the East city in Wuhan and is a ‘must see’, because of the treasures that it has to offer.

This museum has almost 200,000 relics from the cultural past of China and has some of the most amazing pieces of jade, pottery and porcelain, ancient musical instruments, bronze vessels and ancient weapons dating back to the Chu periodic (770BC-476BC). As many as 812 of these relics, are listed amongst the first-class relics, while 16 of them are regarded as the national treasures of China.

The Hubei Provincial Museum is segregated into three parts – the cultural exhibition hall (consisting of relics of Chu period), the Chime Bells or the music hall, and the comprehensive hall, which is a relatively new feature and is under construction and improvement.

The Chime Bells or the music exhibition hall boasts of many relics dating back to the period of 476 BC – 221 BC, unearthed from tomb of Yi, the king. It has on display as exquisite bronze piece called the ‘Crane Standing on the Antler’, the triangular shaped ancient swords known as Shu, the bamboo placards used for writing in ancient China, etc.

The Chime Bells section displays a set of rare and the largest bells, which are of varying sizes giving high-quality musical tones of exquisite timbre. The bells are also a masterpiece of art since they display almost 3000 ancient characters that describe the type of music and something about its owner.

As a part of its effort to generate more tourist traffic, a number of musicians dressed in an ancient attire play on the instruments that are the replica of original Chime Bells. These are also on display during the various cultural programs overseas.

If you happen to visit China, it would be worthwhile attending one of these concerts between 11.00 and 16.00 any day and you are bound to be mesmerized by the beautiful music take you back to the ancient China and its rich cultural heritage.