Quanzhou Intangible Culture Heritage Museum

The Quanzhou Intangible Culture Heritage Museum (泉州市非物质文化遗产馆) is located within the Qiaoxiang Sports Center in Quanzhou City. Covering an area of over 9,000 square meters, the exhibition space exceeds 6,500 square meters and consists of exhibition areas on the second, third, fourth, and fifth floors.

Permanent Exhibitions

The permanent exhibition features over 650 items related to intangible cultural heritage, showcasing many of the city’s preservation projects, making it the largest intangible cultural heritage museum in China. Visitors can view physical displays of heritage projects, informative panels with images, multimedia presentations, and live performances by heritage inheritors, allowing for a comprehensive appreciation of intangible cultural heritage.

Museum Overview

Floor Themes

Second Floor Theme

The theme of the second floor is “The Beauty of Material Culture, Folk Treasures” (物华之美，民间瑰宝). It mainly showcases Quanzhou’s traditional artistic projects, including stone carvings, wood carvings, paper weaving paintings, puppet head carvings, colorful paper sculptures, paper offerings, and lanterns. Each category has a rich historical legacy and craftsmanship.

Third Floor Theme

The third floor features two themes: “Folk Customs, Rich Min Nan Culture” (民俗之风，浓情闽南) and “Melody of Quanzhou Dialect, Echoes of Jin and Tang Dynasties” (泉腔之韵，晋唐遗响). The first theme displays Quanzhou’s folk culture, including traditional dances, sports, acrobatics, games, and medicine. Visitors can see the attire of Hui’an women, the Lantern Festival customs, and folk dances like the Chest-beating Dance and the Fire Pot Ceremony. The second theme highlights the charm of the Min Nan dialect, with many forms of intangible heritage expressed through the Quanzhou dialect, including folk literature, traditional music, and operas.

Fourth Floor Theme

The theme of the fourth floor is “Ingenious Crafts, Masterful Creation” (天工之巧，匠心营造), focusing on Quanzhou’s traditional crafts. These crafts are the result of generations of artisans, creating watertight cabins for Fuchuan boats, contributing to the prosperity of Quanzhou Port during the Song and Yuan Dynasties. They also include the production of Dehua porcelain, known as “China White,” and the construction of traditional Min Nan residential buildings, leaving behind stunning architectural features like “Palace Roofs” and “Swallow-tail Ridges.” This floor will also display crafts and works such as bamboo weaving, golden embroidery, Tieguanyin tea, and religious statues.