Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution 中国人民革命军事博物馆

About Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution

Aircraft and missiles occupy the expanded central hall, while the wider weapons collection includes artillery, armored vehicles, small arms, and material from different periods and countries. The scale of the equipment makes comparisons of design and purpose possible beyond the smaller objects in most history museums. Begin with the central hall, then choose one historical section for context; the museum’s institutional interpretation and the physical objects are related but distinct parts of the experience.

The museum was formally established on 21 September 1958. Its exhibition building was one of Ten Great Buildings (十大建筑) erected in Beijing for the tenth anniversary of the People's Republic, built between October 1958 and July 1959, and opened to the public in August 1960. Like the contemporary Beijing Telegraph Building and Long-Distance Telephone Building, it follows a Soviet-influenced design, but its tower is topped by the emblem of the People's Liberation Army rather than a plain red star.

The south plaza displays naval missile boats, a Dongfeng-2 (东风-2) missile, a logistics support vehicle that took part in the 2009 National Day parade, and ten Qing-dynasty iron cannons. The museum's collections cover ancient and modern Chinese warfare and the Communist-led revolutionary wars, including material from the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Korean War alongside captured foreign weapons.

The museum was rated a National First-Class Museum (国家一级博物馆) by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage in May 2008. Beginning in 2012 the exhibition building was reinforced and expanded, its floor area growing from 60,000 to 150,000 square meters and its exhibition space from more than 30,000 to nearly 70,000 square meters; during the work over 250 large weapons were moved to the south plaza for continued display.

What to look for

• Central equipment hall: compare the aircraft and missile displays within the building’s large interior volume.
• Weapons and vehicle collections: examine differences in scale and function among artillery, armor, and smaller equipment.

Location & getting there

Getting to Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution

The matched travel listing gives No. 9 Fuxing Road in Haidian for the museum.

• Use the full museum name and Fuxing Road address when arranging arrival; a general military-history search may return other Beijing museums.