Chinese Aviation Museum 中国航空博物馆

About Chinese Aviation Museum

Part of the museum uses a cavern cut into the mountain, while the collection includes aircraft from the propeller and jet eras, helicopters, and specialized machines. A particularly distinctive example is the former ORBIS flying eye hospital, which connects aviation with medical work. Compare a few aircraft by their original roles rather than trying to identify every model. The contrast between outdoor machines and the former underground infrastructure gives the site its character.

The museum began preparation in October 1986 at Shahe Airfield below Datang Mountain in what was then Changping's Xiaotangshan area, and opened to the public on 11 November 1989, the 40th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (中国人民解放军空军). It was administered by the PLA Air Force and took the name Air Force Aviation Museum in October 1990, publicly known as the China Aviation Museum. The Beijing site closed on 9 October 2025 for relocation to the Dafangshen Airport area in Changchun, Jilin.

The museum grounds cover more than 700,000 square meters, including a cave exhibition hall of about 20,000-plus square meters and an open-air area of about 180,000 square meters. Its emblem is a J-12 supersonic ultralight fighter. The collection spans more than 100 aircraft types and nearly 300 aircraft, along with surface-to-air missiles, radar, aerial bombs, flight suits, parachutes and other large equipment, plus more than 20,000 volumes of aviation books.

In 2008 the museum was rated by the National Cultural Heritage Administration (国家文物局) as one of the first group of national first-class museums. It has also been named a national patriotic-education demonstration base and a national youth science-popularization demonstration base, and was rated a 4A tourist attraction (4A级旅游景区) by the National Tourism Administration (国家旅游局). It holds 47 items meeting national first-class cultural-relic standards.

What to look for

• Aircraft collection: compare transport, combat, and specialized aircraft by form and purpose.
• Former ORBIS aircraft: look for the connection between an airliner and its later role as a flying eye hospital.
• Mountain-cavern setting: see how former airbase infrastructure became part of the museum.

Location & getting there

Getting to Chinese Aviation Museum

The museum is at Datangshan in the northern Beijing area, with part of the display housed inside the mountain.

• Use China Aviation Museum or 中国航空博物馆 as the exact destination, distinguishing it from airport terminals and smaller aviation displays.