Beijing 2024 - National Museum of China (中国国家博物馆) Money Exhibition

 

Now the proper museum visit starts! We went to the top floor, and decided to start from there and make our way down. Since we were both Chinese, we told ourselves that we would skip anything that was already similar to our own culture. Ha! Easier sad than done! So let's start with the Money Exhibition because, how fitting, we are Chinese! Money is everything! Money and, maybe Rice! Hahahaha. Above is the entrance to the exhibition hall, and I must be living underneath a well. I never thought that modern Chinese are so good at art and display! Almost all the halls were just so captivating in display!

It was hard to ignore most exhibit because China just has too long a history than most country or culture. So even the simplest things here can be displayed with such depth and detailed that it was just mind blowing. Here I learned about the origin of money in China, and why it was shaped in a certain way. The symbolic of the hand, shoulder, leg in the shape was just so meaningful because in ancient China, money literally represent labour resources that it could buy, or the labour resource that went into it to own money. I thought that was so cool and logical for the shape of the 'coin'.

Or those shaped like a sword but is not exactly a sword. Again, I think it's just head, body and something something, lol. Can't read those two words at the bottom here.

Soon symbols took over, and we see coins with drawings of meat, string paper? and erm, goodness? Yeah, if I have meat, my life would be good too! The concept is just so primitive and basic that it just made so much sense! How come I don't learn such things in my history lesson? Oh yeah, right, I was educated in Malaysia. We have money shaped like horses or crocodiles I think. Hence the word 'kupang' as a counter of cents in Malaysia. I don't know if that is still used now in Malaysia, but I can still understand when people say 'tiga kupang' to me, which means 30cents :P

Then came gold. I like the way they display it with the gold really shinning through bright and erm, golden! Sadly, I'm not a fan of gold.

Here is wishing my husband would always be gold and prosperous so that I would always have a good life and most importantly, good food to eat always!