China Shipbuilding Culture Museum is located in Mawei District, Fuzhou. Built on a mountain, the museum is a five-story building with a construction area of 4,100 square meters. The museum is China's first museum with the theme of shipbuilding culture. As part of modern industry, the shipbuilding also has the profound impact on other aspects of modern China, including economy, polity, military, science, technology, education and culture.
Background of China Shipbuilding Culture Museum
Mawei Shipbuilding Group is the largest shipbuilding and repairing company in Fujian Province. Founded in 1866, it was called as Fujian Shipbuilding Administration. It was the first professional shipbuilding company in modern China. It has great status and influence in different aspects in China’s history. Among them, it has a significant impact on the development and transformation of China's navies.
After the Opium War, the officials from the Westernization Group established various educational institutions to train modern talents. The Fuzhou Shipbuilding School was the first modern naval school in China as well as the first naval education institution in China. The establishment of Fujian Shipbuilding Administration shows that the position of China’s maritime defense was rising at that time.
Since 2004, in order to promote the culture of shipbuilding, the local government has invested more than 6 million RMB to completely upgrade the Chinese Modern Naval Museum in accordance with relevant strategy, and renamed it as China Shipbuilding Culture Museum.
Exhibitions of China Shipbuilding Culture Museum
The shape of the main building is a warship sailing through wind and waves. It is unique and magnificent with the modern architectural style. There are three bronze statuses in the hall, namely Zuo Zongtang, Shen Baozhen and Hu Xueyan, who made important achievements in China’s shipbuilding during the Westernization Movement.
The museum contains a large number of precious cultural relics, pictures and models. It consists of the exhibition hall, education hall, industrial hall and naval foundation hall.
The first floor of the exhibition hall is the Preface. It demonstrated the great achievements of modern Chinese science and technology, education, industry, manufacture, national defense, cultural communication.
The second floor is "Overview of Shipbuilding Administration", which shows the general situation of Fujian Shipbuilding Administration. The exhibition also shows the background of the Westernization Movement and the hardships of Zuo Zongtang and Shen Baozhen when establishing the administration.
The third floor is "Shipbuilding Education", which mainly introduces the Fuzhou Shipbuilding School and the elites from the school.
The fourth floor is "Industry and Technology of Shipbuilding". It introduces the development and scientific and technological achievements of the shipbuilding in history.
The fifth floor is "Naval Foundation", which highlights the formation of modern navy.